YOUR PROBLEM WITH IMPROVEMENT
Those we consider champions in any area of life are unique and set apart in many ways, but one of the most obvious and most important separators is their uncommon commitment to improvement. Champions are driven by a deep conviction that their improvement is both possible and necessary. That's why in the important areas of life and performance, the best never stop getting better. It’s worth taking a minute here today to consider whether or not you’ve developed that kind of winning commitment.
Practice is of course the best way for any of us to improve. That’s true for developing performance skills, for building new and better behavior, or for cultivating a stronger and healthier mindset. And the formula for practicing effectively is pretty simple. First clarify the gap that exists between who you currently are and who winning requires you to be. Then show up today with purpose and intention, and do that over and over again every day after. Put in the work and trust the process. If you do that, your improvement is inevitable.
The problem is, real improvement is more often imagined than achieved. Just because it's simple, after all, doesn't mean it's easy. There are plenty of reasons why so many people struggle to practice well, and therefore end up missing out on their opportunities to improve. Here are three of the most common problems real improvement presents, and a winning solution for each...
Problem #1: Improvement is boring. Kobe Bryant became one of the great basketball players of all time, mainly because he was one of the great practicers of all time. Of course he was blessed with natural ability, but Kobe’s commitment to improving his game is legendary. He would often work out multiple times a day, and focus entire sessions to some basic footwork or fundamental skill that even amateur players would typically justify was beneath them. When asked why he was the best player in the world, Bryant simply replied, “Because I never get bored with the basics.”
If boredom is the problem, then discipline is the solution. Discipline is the decision you make to do what winning requires you to do, even when - and maybe especially when - you don’t feel like it. Even if the work might seem basic, boring, or beneath you, discipline drives you to show up and do the work anyways. Discipline provides evidence of your improvement.
Problem #2: Improvement is awkward and uncomfortable. Especially when we aren’t very good at something important, practice has a way of sounding an alarm in our ego. Ego is the inflated feeling of pride or self-importance that comes when you’re good at something, and you know it. And while ego has its place in your pursuit, it generally serves as the enemy of improvement. When you aren’t very good at something, ego elevates your insecurity and encourages you to avoid the awkward or uncomfortable work that getting better requires you to do.
If ego is the problem, then humility is the solution. Humility elevates your responsibility for improving and diminishes how that important work might feel to you or look to others. It’s the driving force behind your desire to keep getting better.
Problem #3: Improvement is small and slow. In and of itself, the transactional nature of the improvement process is really unfair. What you give to that process and what you receive are not proportional. Getting better today requires you to give everything you’ve got - your time, your effort, your energy, and your attention. In return it offers you only the tiniest speck of improvement, plus the sobering promise that earning another speck tomorrow will require even more than it did today. That kind of unfairness forces each of us, at some point, to evaluate for ourselves whether or not a full commitment to practice is really worth it.
If the harsh reality of the improvement process is the problem, then resilience is the solution. It would be great of course if there was an easier way, but accepting the truth about what it takes forces us to choose our path moving forward.There is the long, slow, difficult way…or there is no way. Those are the options. If you want to get better, the only choice you’ve got is to muster up some toughness and get back to work again today.
If an honest assessment reveals that you don’t currently possess the discipline, the humility, or the resilience it takes to practice well, then you have the power to respond like a champion. That starts with cultivating the conviction that your improvement in those important areas is both possible and necessary. Then it means clarifying the gap that exists between who you currently are and who winning requires you to be, showing up today with purpose and intention, and then doing that over and over again every day after. It means putting in the work and trusting the process. If you do that, your improvement is inevitable.
