Trending In the Right Direction

making progress with patience

Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash

A Quick Reminder

I’m accepting three new coaching clients to start 6-month Success & Accountability Coaching packages in July. This is perfect if you’re working on a dissertation, applying for graduate school, working on a book or creative project, or are seeking more balance in research/teaching/service. You can learn more about Success & Accountability Coaching here and you can book a free 30-minute Discovery Call to chat about how coaching can support you here. Thanks, and onto today’s letter!

I hear these phrases too often: “I should be doing so much more. I am lazy. I’ll never accomplish my goals.” My least favorite is "I’m a failure."

I'm lucky enough to serve as a mirror to my coaching clients, shining back to them a list of all the personal and professional accomplishments I hear them share during our sessions, and I’m always pleasantly surprised at their pleasant surprises when they notice, “Whoa, I really have been doing a good job! And at so many things!”

This is why I love the concept of trending, which is defined as “a line of development” and “the general movement over time of a statistically detectable change.” It’s actually a synonym of "tend," which makes it even cooler. I encourage my clients to resee their progress on their goals on a larger scale based on how they trend over time. I’m not talking about the day-by-day actions, but the progress you’re slowly making toward the places you want to inhabit one day as a result of your efforts and commitments.

I know that trending toward our long-term goals doesn’t always feel like progress. It can seem like we’re not doing enough, because we aren’t working like automatons who lack bodies and brains that deserve rest and play. We think we “should” be working more, and we sometimes feel guilty when we prioritize tending to our mental and physical health—not to mention watching our favorite television shows or going on date nights or starting new hobbies—when we’ve got big dreams and deadlines looming over us.

Here are some examples of trending:

• Instead of working on a particular goal (like writing a dissertation or editing a podcast) every single day, you dedicate one day a week to focusing on making progress.

• You spend time researching, learning, and brainstorming about your goal, even if you don’t feel like you have much tangible proof to show for it.

• If you can’t block out multiple hours at a time to work on your goal, you chip away at it in short bursts during the downtime between other priority tasks or obligations.

I hope that these three common examples show you that there are other ways to accomplish a goal than to wake up at 5 a.m. to start the day earlier than everyone else (especially when you aren't a morning person) or to spend 15 minutes every day on your task when you'd really rather batchotask it for one day a week. Building habits is a phenomenal way to streamline your life, but creating habits should make you feel better about yourself and the approach that works for you, not worse because you’re comparing your productivity to other people’s highlight reels.

Here’s How Trending Looks for Me Right Now

My two big goals for 2024 are to learn to cook new recipes and to practice yoga. Because my evening energy is sometimes unpredictable, it doesn’t make sense for me to meal plan out my whole week. Instead, I’ve been reading cookbooks that I borrow from my local library and learning more about certain foods, and I’ll plan to dedicate a weekend to trying out something new. My summer goal is to learn how to pickle vegetables! For yoga, I started taking an evening Foundations class that cycles through the same 8 classes. I think it’s meant for folks who are new to practicing yoga, but I enjoy slowing down and focusing on individual asana poses that I can sometimes hurry through in other classes. I feel inspired and nourished by my cookbook and yoga foundations explorations, even if neither has resulted in an outward “accomplishment” or proof of standard “success.” Instead, I’m enjoying the path, which feels like a wonderful example of trending.

How to Resee Your Personal Progress as Trending

When you think of one of your goals, are you moving towards the general direction you want to go? Remember back to a long time ago when you first decided you wanted to achieve your goal. Since then, have you made progress towards making it a reality? Focusing on trending toward your goal means you see your success as long-term growth. When you aim to trend towards your goal, you shift your mindset from failure to progress.

Take care,

Dr. Kate

Photo by Amanda Macchia