Measuring Progress Upside Down

Goal setting

Early on in the pandemic, I set a goal for myself: by my 40th birthday, I wanted to be able to do a handstand press. For clarity, that means being able to put your hands on the ground and extend your legs up into a handstand under control - without "kicking up."

Spoiler alert: nine months after my 40th, I still can't do it. But I learned a lot about perseverance and measuring progress in very small increments.?

At the outset of my challenge, it seemed like an easy goal to attain. I watched lots of Youtube tutorials, started practicing every morning before the family woke up, and made easily recognizable improvements every few days:

1. Improved hamstring flexibility,
2. Ability to do a headstand under control,
3. Ability to hold a handstand against a wall for a full minute, etc.

Then my progress seemed to grind to a halt.?

Finding a new measuring stick

I went from notching a new “PR” every few days to holding a “free” handstand for 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 3.5 seconds…back to 2 seconds…1.5 seconds…?AAAGGGHHH!

And suddenly the part I thought would be easy - doing a handstand without a support - seemed basically impossible. I’d never get to the point of being able to get inverted under my own strength and balance if I couldn’t even handstand without training wheels.?

So I kind of went back to the drawing board. I had hit a limit because I hadn’t done the foundational work necessary to get from “look, I’m upside down” to “standing on my hands…standing on my feet, it’s all the same to me.”

It forced me to focus on alignment, posture, breathing - and notice very small incremental improvements to determine whether I was actually moving toward my goal. I learned all sorts of things that I didn’t even know were things to learn, and never would have thought to measure them because I didn’t know what to look for.?

I had been so focused on measuring from zero to one that I ignored all the little milestones BETWEEN zero and one.?

Come on now - what’s the point?

The point is it’s easy to fall prey to only focusing on the easily measurable goals. Right now, we all need to feel like we are accomplishing things. Whether it’s doing a handstand press, or running a marathon, or just dragging yourself from the bed to the home office 5 days in a row - there’s accomplishment in there if you’re really willing to look.?

It’s great to have moonshot goals. But they will always be too far out if you can’t respect yourself enough to measure the steps to get there in smaller increments.?