Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Last night after I completed what I thought was the hardest workout on our Tonal, I stood in front of the screen and watched as the numbers on my profile updated. The numbers in the first two categories increased, as expected, but when the third category, my strength score updated it went down one point.

Down?

I felt like I had put in a great effort, lifted over 12,000 pounds during the workout, and my chest and back were smoked–the final reps of the last sets were a struggle. I was spent but my Tonal told me I hadn’t done enough. In fact, I’d done too little so it took a point away from my score. I’m not going to lie, I was momentarily disappointed but then I quickly reminded myself I don’t work out for the metrics–I work out for how I feel afterward and for my 65-year-old+ Self. My goal for each session is not to increase my strength score, it’s to get in a good workout and continue to fight off Father Time.

This morning I reflected on the experience with my strength score and focused on how I’ve taken far more steps forward over the last 35 weeks than I have back. In fact, I don’t know how many days I’ve taken a small step back before taking multiple forward because I’m not usually paying close attention to my strength score—last night was an anomaly because it was such a hard workout I was certain I’d get a boost. As I sat with this on my mind, I realized my strength score was a lot like life and my Pursuit (and yours as well).?

If we were to examine our Pursuits daily our progress would not look linear; it would be a series of jagged lines representing us taking two (or multiple) steps forward and one step back, gradually moving closer to our authentic life. But, if we were to zoom out, our progress would look like a smooth line moving toward our authentic life–we would not see the periodic steps back and just see the long-term trend of moving forward. If I put my financial advisor hat on for a second, this is what we see when we look at a diversified portfolio of investments–day to day, month to month, and year to year we experience ups and downs in our portfolio but as we zoom out and look at multiple years and decades we see a pretty smooth line moving up and to the right.

In investing, taking a step back after the markets advance forward is necessary in order to make the next move up. Prices have to reset, new information digested, and the excitement and euphoria of the late stages of a good market run have to burn off–prices can’t always go up, so there has to be a step back in order to continue the long-term trend up. During the step back new opportunities present themselves, lessons are learned, and growth occurs in new areas–if investors are paying attention they are able to adapt and capitalize and benefit coming out of the backward movement.

Our one step back during our Pursuit provides the same opportunities.?

• You might be taking a step back because the path you were heading down was not the right one. Although it may have been the wrong path, you learned something about yourself and may have even picked up some new skills that will help you when you return back to the right path.
• You might be taking a step back because you were doing too much at the time and the momentary retreat is to help you shed the things that don’t move you in the direction of your authentic life.
• You might be taking a step back because the growth you experienced prior took you to a point where the world needs to catch up with you.?

When these moments of taking a step back occur, don’t miss the opportunity to rest, learn, and get ready for the next two steps forward. It may not seem like it at the moment, especially because a step back is usually not experienced in a “positive” way, but it is a blessing in disguise and is exactly what you need at that moment.

My decline in strength score could have occurred for a few reasons:

• Maybe it occurred to show me that what I THINK is hard work, really isn’t and that I have more to give. I recently defined some new personal health goals after reaching the ones I set last year and my Tonal may have been delivering me the message that the next phase is going to require me to push harder than I have in the past…it’s motivation for the next workout.
• Maybe it occurred to remind me to stop paying attention to the micro and focus on the macro of my actions–not just in my workouts but in everything that I do. Instead of looking at the analytics of my workouts, blog posts, podcasts, videos, or firm growth focus my energy on the longer-term trend of my actions–after all, everything that I’m building is long-term…I’m not playing any short games.
• Maybe it occurred as a glitch. It is quite possible that the technology in the Tonal made a mistake and the step back was a reminder that sometimes things happen that are out of our control and aren’t necessarily “right” but we have to keep showing up and giving our best.

Regardless of why I took a step back last night, I’m not going to let it deter me from going downstairs this afternoon and completing my next workout. I’ll push a little harder and see if I can’t get more out of myself and I’ll skip seeing what my score does—I’ll take a look at it in a couple of weeks and I’m willing to bet it will be higher than where it is today.

Your Pursuit and personal growth will never be linear and that is ok because it’s in the steps back that we learn, rest, and get ready for the exponential growth we experience in the long run. So keep focusing on your micro-actions, not the micro-analytics, and let the long-term results tell the true story of your progress–and keep pursuing!

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC

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