#17 Fall in love with the climb ⛰

From goal-oriented to growth-oriented.

Focusing. Staying motivated.

These are internal battles we fight daily as the quarantine unfolds. Especially as our personal and professional goals are postponed indefinitely or are forced to change.

But a subtle mind-shift can improve your perspective and help you push forward.

A shift from a goal-oriented mindset to a growth-oriented mindset. 

1. A goal-oriented mindset defines success as reaching a specific event or result.

The "dream" is to cross a particular finish line. For example, reaching the summit of a mountain.

A goal-oriented person thinks: "When I reach the summit, I will be happy."

Photo by Clay Knight on Unsplash

The problem with this mindset is that if your goal moves further away or becomes harder to reach, you become frustrated and demotivated.
The goal can then have the opposite effect. It limits you and what you think you are capable of doing.

2. A growth-oriented mindset, on the other hand, defines success as improving and committing to the process by which you accomplish your goal. 

The “dream” becomes doing the work and embracing the ups and downs of daily practice. For example, loving the process and journey up the mountain.

A growth-oriented person thinks, "I am thankful now, taking each step and learning as I move up the mountain."

Photo by Maja Kochanowska on Unsplash

If you focus on growing and improving day by day, you begin to see small wins that then motivate you to keep moving forward. Those small wins will eventually result in huge victories.

Great performers that excel at their craft and continuously exceed their goals base their philosophy on a growth-oriented mindset.

For example, NBA icon Kobe Bryant. 

Some of his many accomplishments include:

• 5 NBA championships.

• 3rd on the all-time scoring list. 

• 2 Olympic gold medals.

For him, "the dream" was doing the work it took to get there.

"Those times when you get up early... those times when you stay up late... when you're too tired... you don't want to push yourself, but you do it anyway... That is actually the dream." - Kobe Bryant

Even when he was in his prime, he continued to show up 2 hrs before 7 am practice to do shooting drills alone or more reps at the gym.

His love for the process of improving resulted in him reaching his goals.

This applies to the business side as well.

Pixar has more consecutive blockbusters than any other film studio. But why?

Photo: Pixar

Because they know that neither the animation, budget or special effects can rescue a bad story.

They don't focus on premieres or ticket sales, but on perfecting their craft as storytellers.

Photo: Pixar storyboards

With each success, they continue to challenge themselves more. This can be seen in the increase of storyboards they do per film. 

Not because the films are longer, but because they focus on continuously improving their story day by day. 

The Takeaway:

Fall in love with the process, not the goal. It's who you become along the way that matters.

A goal does not define you, but the habits and decisions you make every day do.

Push through each day and focus on doing the work.

We overestimate what we can do in a day, which can be frustrating. But if you are persistent and zoom out, you will be amazed by the progress.

Inspired by Carl Richard @behaviorgap

The hard part about doing the work is fighting procratination.

To learn more about what causes it and how to fight it I recomnd this espisode of Adam Grant’s podcast WorkLife. Thanks Caique Bossi de Farias from Brasil for sharing it!

Let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.

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I hope you are well.

María Albert

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