Mindset Monday - Hidden progress

This is episode 211 of the Empowered Team podcast. The Zenith is back. The most amazing retreat that really dives in to getting you to your next level, physically, mentally, spiritually. We have leased out a five acre oceanfront gorgeous spot in Sayulita, Mexico, and it is time for you to dive in and change the your life. And I don't mean there's anything wrong with your life. I mean up level, expand, make it what you really want. The Zenith is coming end of February this year. We'll tell you more. We just want you to know ahead of time, save the dates. Welcome to the Empowered Team podcast where we explore how to optimize your performance in career, sport and life. And and now your host, executive coach and life strategist, Kari Schneider. Welcome. Welcome to Mindset Monday. This is where we step into ways of thinking, ways of being, how we can use our mind to really bring us forward in the direction we want to go in our life. So today we're talking about hidden progress. That's right, hidden progress. This can be the worst kind of progress possible because we don't know it's there. Sometimes we're making the progress and we just aren't seeing it. And this happens a lot with us as achievers. So those of us who are these competitive executives, athletes, those of us who are really driven to keep going forward and we're moving forward, sometimes at blinding speed and sometimes at a snail's pace. So what happens when the progress is slow or worse? We're not seeing the progress. So sometimes it's hidden. Hidden progress typically occurs when we've been putting in the work, we're hungry for the result, we've been consistent no matter what the realm in your life, but you're not seeing the progress. You're doing all the right things. The work's happening, the consistency is happening, you know what you want, and yet the progress isn't happening. That's when we want to bang our heads against the wall. So whether this is in business or your physical training or your personal life, we're doing the right air quotes here, the right things. We typically get to a space where we're starting to expect a result. And this expectation, as we all know you've probably heard, expectation, is where disappointment comes in. But we expect the result, typically because we've been putting in the work, we've been putting in the consistency. So why wouldn't we get the result? We know what we want, we have a clear goal. So there's a number of reasons and we can go Back to, you know, smart goals and defining it and breaking it all down. And ultimately it will come down to that. But what I really want to highlight today is that if we can open our minds to the concept that there might be progress there that we just can't see. And when we can open that concept up, then we're far more likely to keep moving forward instead of getting sidelined by frustration, by mental chatter that's negative, by the things that are really going to hold us back instead of propel us forward. So the result that we expect is the result that we want. We're getting a result, and it might even be with progress, but we're not seeing it. So then it just doesn't fit with our model of what should air quotes, again, be happening. So when we don't get it, then the frustration ensues and we may even end up giving up. And what we may not even have realized is that the progress was there. We just weren't seeing it. We just didn't have eyes on what it was. So it's just hidden. I see this so frequently in three main areas with my clients, probably because they're usually going for goals in these three main areas. And one is physical progress. When they're going for big goals, maybe it's a big physical athletic endeavor, or it could be a weight loss goal or preparing or creating best health. And number two is changing some sort of emotional pattern or language which is coming from their mind. So that would be number two. And number three is business progress. So these are three key areas I see all of the time with businesses, with individual clients. And in these three key areas, there's hidden progress everywhere that we simply cannot see. So for instance, I'll give a really, really basic example where I would have years ago with my brick and mortar gym, I would have athletes, private clients, anybody going for the holy grail of a chin up. And if they hadn't achieved a chin up ever, or they hadn't achieved a chin up in a very long time, that chin up was a really worthy opponent as a goal. This worthy task they really wanted to get to. And they may have been doing all the right things. Maybe they did banded chin ups, so with an elastic band. Maybe they did assistant chin ups. They'd also go and do some supplementary strengthening exercises, going for the assisting muscle groups like the forearms, the biceps, making sure they're doing rows, all these other great movements, doing back exercise and pec exercise, strengthening with long levered positions like pullovers. So they're really going all out, doing due diligence, getting in the consistency. But when that chin up is such a hard goal, such a fantastically great challenge, that when they've been going for, say, three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks at all this other work, working on their strengthening, trying really hard, doing the movement and then making another attempt, and they still don't get the chin up. But what they can't see is all of the hidden progress that has happened along the way. They have. Maybe they're even 60% stronger than they were, but it might not have been enough to get the chin up. So they've got better shoulder stability, they've got rotator cuffs that are doing the job, they've got bigger biceps as a byproduct of all this strengthening work, they've got a greater muscle balance in their shoulder girdle, they've got all this great progress and they might even be part of the way there to their chin up. But because they haven't achieved the one chin up, that chin above the bar, then they're not seeing all the progress they've made along the way, because that one goal is the only thing that they're focused on. So this same thing happens in our lives, it happens in our relationships, it happens in our, our businesses, where we just haven't reached the 1 million in sales for the year yet and refuse to see how the integrations have come together, the systems, the standard operating procedures, the team, the team, collective and culture. We're not seeing all of the progressions that are actually the critical building blocks to create the result that we're looking for. But because the result hasn't been achieved, maybe that 1 million in sales hasn't been achieved, then we're not focusing on the other progressions that have happened along the way. So this is hidden progress and it can be one of the greatest motivators. We can just flip it right around. It can be one of the greatest motivators to get us to the ultimate goal or outcome that we're going for, simply because it can keep us going forward when we see the things that have progressed. So going back to that chin up example, when somebody sees that, oh, look, I couldn't even hang from the bar before, but I can hang from the bar now because my grip is stronger and my shoulders are more stable and all of these other helping muscles are doing their job, and I'm actually stronger at all these other things. So that must mean I am getting stronger for that one chin up because my weight has gone up, I can Lift more weight in these other areas. So the hidden progress, the exact thing that is so hidden, it's so out of our view, it's out of focus. When we put it into focus, it can actually become the motivator that gets us where we want to go. Because when we see all of those progressions in all those other areas, then our brain says something different. Instead of it saying, instead of it feeding us the line of I didn't do it, I didn't achieve, feeds us the line of, oh, well, if these things are all happening, I'm almost there, it's so close, I can do it. And it's a completely different dialogue, different emotional state and different focus that actually keeps us going and keeps us even performing at a greater level. This can be an example in anything. And part of the hidden progress is seeing what's not working. Because sometimes it's not just that we haven't quite gotten there, sometimes it's actually that we're doing it and we're not doing it. We're doing it and we're not doing it. I'll give you another example that's different. My family and I noticed that from being around four of our kids who are young adults or teenagers. Maybe it's not this, maybe it's just culture. Other exposures, we were saying like way more than we wanted to say like. And it was so prevalent that my 10 year old at the time, she would say a sentence and we would tell her she just said like three times and she wouldn't have even heard it. And that's what was starting to happen to us too. We were so exposed to the word in the context that didn't serve conversation, didn't serve the message we were trying to send. And we didn't want to say it anymore, but it was slipping into our vocabulary, left, right, center, all the time and we weren't even seeing it. So we decided to challenge each other and call each other out. If we said like in an inappropriate context, then we would just mention it to the other person so we could help each other. So it would be an example of. He was like saying, and then I like went over to the lake window and I looked outside. So that's the type of thing that was happening. Instead of saying he was very much like his brother, that would be appropriate. But the other ones were just unnecessary words that were fillers within our sentences. So we started calling each other out on it. But our 10 year old started to tell us that no, she didn't say it because she couldn't hear it. She couldn't hear it at all. And we could hear it because we were looking for it. But she was so accustomed to speaking with that word as a little. A little emphasis in the sentences that she couldn't hear it. And eventually, as we noted with each other more and more, and as she was helping us, she could focus on that word more, so she was noticing it within her own language. And that's one of the things that happens, is that when we're making progress and we do start to see it, then we start to see when it's not working as well. And so it feels like our progress isn't going the direction that we want it to go. But the beautiful thing about starting to notice when it's not working is that it means that it's working. It means that it's working. A beautiful example Tony Robbins gave us at one point was the blinker that's going on again, off again, on again, off again is actually working, even though it's not on all the time. That's how it's supposed to work. And that's exactly how it's supposed to work. When we start noticing something that we couldn't see before. So sometimes we're making progress and we're not seeing it at all. And then the next step in progress is that we can see it. So the hidden progress initially is we're blinded to the fact that it's even there. And then the next step is that we start to see that there are areas of progress. But the key critical factor in the hidden progress and in being able to utilize it for motivation and see that we're going forward is that we actually pay attention and start to become aware. And this takes a massive mindset shift. This mindset shift of looking for, deciding what to focus on and looking for what is actually working, because that's how we can create motivation within ourselves to keep us going in the direction that we want to go. Otherwise, the progress is going to be hidden. It's going to be hidden from our view specifically because we're not looking at the right things. We're not focusing on an area that can actually serve us and keep us going. So this is what I wanted to bring to you with hidden progress is to really be able to see that a sometimes there's hidden progress and we can't see it, but this is where we can get help. Someone else might be able to see it for us. Someone else may be able to see it because they've done it and they've gone through the exact same thing. Or some of us might be able to get help from each other. Either a family accountability like we did with the like help, the eliminating unnecessary likes. And that is how you can start to see the hidden progress by becoming aware of what you're focusing on versus what is missing. And when we can't see at all what is happening like my 10 year old, but we become aware because of someone else's help, we actually have massive progress. It's not just a little bit of progress, it's massive progress because now we could see what was completely hidden. So I invite you to look for in that area that you might be frustrated, you might be might have been trying, you might have been consistent, you're really making an effort. But I invite you to look for the progress not in the obvious places, but rather in the places that you don't expect to see it. Some areas that are a little bit hidden and focus in or get some help so you get a different perspective, a different set of eyes and ears that can help you see where the progress is. Because I'll bet you it's there. You just may not be able to see it. And when you do, it creates such massive momentum because you start to see that it is making a difference. Whatever you're doing is making that little shift and if you keep going or if you make the adjustments, you're going to get to where you really want to go. So don't just drive forward blindly. Look specifically focus on what needs a little attention and you'll start to see the progress, you'll start to see the wins and it'll be so much easier to keep going forward. That is your mindset Monday. Please share this with someone who you think it will serve because that is our mission to really make a positive difference and empower as many people as we possibly can because we believe that that's going to make a really huge difference in the world. So thank you for listening in. Go and find your hidden progress and keep it going. If you enjoy listening to the Empowered Team podcast, you'll love being on the Empowered Team. The Empowered Team runs year round. It is our group coaching and accountability program where we take mindset and physical performance concepts and break them down to usable action steps that optimize results. To learn more about our Empowered Leadership coaching for business, our custom online physical training plans, and of course the Empowered Team Group COACHING Head to www.theempowered.ca empowered learn more. That's www.theempowered.ca Empowered. Learn more.