This almost feels like maybe I’ve already written this same blog post before, but hopefully I didn’t.
I had the thought recently that I need to always feel like I’m progressing in something. I don’t necessarily need to be progressing in everything, but at in at least 1 or 2 areas, I do.
Self-improvement is important to me, and if you look at how I spend my time, most of my activities involve some kind of improvement. Whether it’s studying a language, going to the gym, or learning/practicing other things, I’m always trying to improve.
When I spend a lot of time on something and I don’t feel like I’m progressing, I get frustrated. It has happened time and time again with weight training, it has happened with language-learning, and it also happened – notably – last year with disc golf.
I’m not sure exactly why it is so important to me. I also don’t know whether it’s what I should truly be focusing on. Maybe I’m focusing a bit too much on the outputs rather than the inputs. If I put time in and focus on ways that will actually make me better, the outputs will come.
If I focus too much on just the results, I may get frustrated and sacrifice the quality of my training. I may even avoid the thing altogether, which obviously won’t yield results.
I don’t think it is bad to focus on progression and I’m sure I’ll always do that. But I do think it’s important to take a step back and focus more long-term on things, and also consider the context of everything. If I’m struggling overall with mental health or external factors, it will affect my progression elsewhere.
I shouldn’t get frustrated with myself for not progressing in one area when I have serious problems elsewhere.
Regardless, I think that it is simply important to acknowledge that it is, in fact, important to me to always be progressing, and make sure I’m focusing my time and energy effectively to ensure that I can do that.