The Easiest Way To Stop Going The Wrong Way

High performers get this - It’s exhausting to hold yourself to a high standard. It takes a toll to make good decisions in moments when you feel weak. It’s scary to take the bold actions you committed to. It hurts to honestly look at how we could have done better when we fall short. But we make ourselves do it because we know it’s necessary.

It’s demanding to be always on, all the time, and for that reason sometimes we aren’t. No one is perfect - we all slip up, have lapses in judgment, and do things we probably shouldn’t do. We all fall off track… But those who hold themselves to a higher standard can get themselves back on track quickly. 

One thing that separates high-performers from the rest is that they recover fast and don’t let one mistake snowball into many. And there are two great metaphors that demonstrate this:

First is flying a plane. When it starts to veer off track, the pilot makes a micro correction to get back on path. Without that correction, the small error will cause large results as the plan gets further and further away from where it’s supposed to be.

Second is, imagine there’s a car with broken brakes at the top of a hill. Once the car picks up speed and careens down the hill, it becomes nearly impossible to stop without doing some serious damage. However, if you notice the brakes are broken at the very beginning and notice it’s starting to teeter over the edge, you can stop the car with a single hand.

Both of these examples demonstrate the benefits of catching a slip early. The easiest way to stop going the wrong way is to change course before the problem becomes large.

This is a philosophy I put into practice every single day. I reflect on my choices within my exercise, diet, sleep, even social media usage. I’m not perfect and of course I miss a workout, oversnack without realizing it, get less sleep than I need, or waste too much time… But I have a daily feedback loop in place. 

I look at each of these categories every day and reflect on my choices. If I notice something’s off, I can correct it before it becomes too big of a deal. And because of that I maintain a high standard for myself and have the good health, fulfilling business, and amazing personal life that I do.

It’s just a daily system of awareness, and if you want to see how mine works - I recorded a video walking you through my Self Improvement Scorecard.

‍