Between 2 Lists
10 Points of Obstruction
- Success defined by other people’s limited perspective
- Big goals
- Quick fixes
- The quest to “be informed”
- Negativity
- Keeping up
- Gossip
- Vulnerability suppressed
- Pursuit of certainty
- When what matters most is outsourced to others
10 Points of Daily Practice
- Start, then learn, then decide
- Addition works when the subtraction muscle is firing
- Be slow and patient on skill development
- Be fast and responsive on course correction
- Love running life experiments
- Go deeper with fewer
- When in doubt, serve others
- Gratitude is always an action
- Culture over everything
- Culture is a function of how I take care of myself first
It is an understatement to say that the first list intrudes on our pursuit of doing better. Any one of these is a progress-killer. Its collective force severely complicates what has the potential to be simple, important, and rewarding.
Like so many of us, I fall victim to “big goals” that can change everything for me and the people I want to serve. These are big goals that might:
Reverse a trend in the wrong direction.
Attract influential people to my ideas.
Declare a new start.
I find that when I wrap my ideas in “big goals” they become weak. Goal after big goal never gains traction. It makes one desperately hopeful and often unprepared.
Very recently, I embarked upon a few new pursuits. I now coach athletes, I am learning a new language, and I have taken on the biggest writing project of my life.
These were not goals — they were unexpected opportunities. I did not seek them so much as they found me. For sure, they add fresh energy to my daily routine. They require me to stretch.
Why do I say yes to such opportunities? The remorse of not giving these a shot outweighs the convenience of aiming at big goals using my precious free time and available capacity.
In the first list “Big Goal” mode, we never live by the guiding principles that reside inside of the second list.
In the second list “Small Steps Forward Every Day” mode, we confront obstructions that live on the first list.
The difference? Until the first 10 are confronted, the second 10 never arrive… and bring with them unexpected opportunities.
With gratitude,
-Joe
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Hi, I’m Joe, the owner of 5 With Joe Performance Coaching. My clients are leaders, organizations, and teams who utilize my Olympic Gold Medal performance strategies and 40 years of navigating whitewater river rapids to streamline decision making and actions when engaged in complicated river currents of business and life.
The best way to interact with me is through Sunday Morning Joe, my weekly newsletter that explores the art of improving performance, overcoming challenge, and aligning with purpose for Sunday readers in search of more depth and motivation. Subscribe HERE for free.
