Tips for Greater Perseverance
Therapist and volleyball coach Dana Upton helps clients make shifts in their lives by deconstructing an ostensibly insurmountable goal into smaller steps, experiencing success with the small steps, and using that success to gain confidence to continue toward the overarching goal.
“Humans have been shown to respond to small successes as a reward in itself,” said Dana. “Even task completion has been the positive reinforcement reward. It’s true of most people, not just checking things off the list, as it’s more systemic and just about doing it.”
As you accomplish each little step, a few things are happening. Each small win gives you endorphins and creates a craving for more of it in the future. Also, knowing you accomplished a key task gives you energy and belief that you can move to the next step or level. Before you know it, you can complete the entire task.
“In my work, I might work with a mom who wants to handle her kids tantrums in a more productive way. I’ll work with her to take 10 breaths before dealing with the situation as a first step to a successful resolution.” Starting with those breaths is the first step in the mom’s quest of being a better parent and guiding their child to a positive outcome.
Dana applies the same techniques in training her volleyball team. If a girl is struggling with hitting the ball, Dana will focus solely on the footwork and body positioning needed for the approach and ignore the outcome of the shots. Once the approach has improved, they will progressively move into elevating off of the floor and successfully striking the ball. Doing so supports greater perseverance by building confidence with each successive step until they can complete the entire action successfully; the approach, the leap, and the shot.
Key Take-Away for Leaders
When you get stuck and freeze up in the face of a big initiative, break it down into smaller pieces, get a small win, and keep reinforcing it with subsequent gains. Even the most successful people get stuck when taking on tasks that are scary and unfamiliar because they focus on the entire task instead of the easy to accomplish individual steps. Great leaders succeed in achieving big goals by breaking them down into small steps and using the small wins to instill confidence to proceed.
*Photo by Dan Calderwood on Unsplash