“Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”  Vince Lomardi

How committed are you to reaching your goal?

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62; NLT)

Both in my study of coaching as well as my study in the popular “success literature” genre, I often run across the seemingly sound advice to “keep your eye on the goal.”  Keep looking ahead.  Focus on the goal and the obstacles that are in the way will blur to oblivion, much like focusing a lens in a camera–focus on the distant object and the foreground will blur to the point of appearing to not being there.  Don’t look back!  Don’t look down!  On and on and on.  Let me emphasize right up front, that I believe this is good advice…sometimes.

Sometimes????  When is it not good advice?  Maybe you can relate to this scenario:  You’ve started down the path toward a goal or a project, and like a good trooper, you’re keeping your eye on the goal.  But the opposition you’re receiving, the land mines you keep running in to, the obstacles you keep encountering just begin to wear you down.  Wear you down to the point that you find that you’re not getting out of bed with the same “giant-killing” enthusiasm that you once did anymore.  In fact, there are some mornings that you don’t want to get out of bed period.  You’re worn down.  Battle fatigued.  Approaching burn out.  How badly did you want that goal in the first place?

Well, in my reading I came across some fascinating recent research (this year, as a matter of fact) by a couple of behavioral scientists, Minjung Koo and Ayelet Fishbach that proved that there are times when it is better to look back instead of looking forward.  Bottom line, through a couple of experiments, they concluded that the key lies with the level of current commitment to the goal.

So, if you’re coaching others toward a goal, or maybe coaching yourself toward a goal, you need to assess the current level of commitment to achieve that goal.  If you or your client is highly committed, then by all means, the thing to do is to keep your eye on the goal and be ever mindful of how much remains to be done.  Every step is empowering, because the distance between you and your goal gets shorter and shorter.

If, on the other hand, at this point in time, your commitment is not quite as strong as it once was, the best thing you can do is look back and be encouraged (and motivated to continue) by how much progress you have already made…how far you have come relative to where you were when you started.

This is a powerful distinction to remember when you’re coaching others…or coaching yourself.  To choose the wrong direction to look can not only be de-motivating, it can be disastrous.  Thanks to Drs. Koo and Fishbach, it’s no longer just a “best guess.”  Hallelujah!!!

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for visions of a preferred future that You give us and also for behavioral research that lets us begin to understand ways to help keep us motivated when we allow ourselves to become discouraged by the circumstances around us.  Whether it’s for our personal use or for use with someone we’re coaching to victory, we pray that this information will help advance the Kingdom.

Link of the Day
Abstract of research article

Blessings on you as you do what ever is necessary to keep on keepin’ on.