Adam Grant is one of the leading thinkers of our time. He has the ability to take experiences and thoughts that are so human and articulate them in a way that helps make sense of the world. My blog post today is inspired by a thought he shared on X (formally known as Twitter).
I’ve been doing some reflecting over the last several weeks and have been in a low point feeling like I’m not making the progress I’d like to make. The gap between my intentions and actions feels massive and the dissonance can feel discouraging.
These feelings, for me, usually come when I have identified the wrong “measure” for my progress. Performance (can be defined in several ways depending on the context) is my usual go to “metric”. How well am I performing? What can I do to perform better?
This is the wrong approach. I am working on shifting my mindset. Performance follows effort but is not always directly correlated. I may have a dip in performance, but my effort could still be my best.
Exercising effort means a consistent growth over a long period and jagged growth in the near term when we are in it.
This is okay. We are all human and every day “our best” will look different.
How does this resonate with you?
Take a moment today to write down your thoughts on how you choose to measure your progress. If you are like me and tend to look at your performance, I invite you to make a conscious choice to look at your effort.
