Do you ever get the feeling of stagnating in a part of your life? You feel that not moving in your career, or you have hit a plateau in the gym. This feeling is not a fun one, and we all have experienced it at some point or another. We expect parts of our lives to progress steadily in the upward direction, but of course life doesn’t work that way. Even with a strong growth mindset, it can be really discouraging when you aren’t progressing how you want in a certain aspect of your life. Which is why it’s important to consider progress in multiple dimensions.
The reality is, often you’re making progress in your life, but not always in the area that you’re analyzing. In this article I am going to teach you how to shift your growth mindset to think more about progress in multiple dimensions. We’re going to talk about how to think about your life in all facets, and how to recognize that growth doesn’t only exist in one or two places. We’re also going to talk about how a key to achieving progress in multiple dimensions is recognizing the path of least resistance. And finally, we’re going to discuss the importance of maintenance between periods of growth.
Recognizing Progress in Multiple Dimensions
Often when we think of progress, we think of a single thing. For me, that thing is often career. When I consider if and how well I’m progressing in my life, that’s the first thing I think of. For others, they may think first to their fitness, or their finances, or their image. Take a second to think what that thing is for you. When someone asks you how you are doing, what is the first thing you think of?
The reality is though, our lives are so multi-faceted. Yes, my career is a big part of my life, but there is so much else going on as well. I’ve got my health, my relationships, my creative pursuits, my family, and so much more. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve got improvement pursuits in multiple parts of your life going on at once. You may be trying to increase how fast or far you can run, while simultaneously pursuing a promotion at work. Maybe you’re planning a vacation with your significant other, while also trying to learn a tricky new song on the guitar.
Different Aspects of Progress in Life
And sometimes, as discussed at the start, parts of your life may stagnate. So you may not feel that you have growth opportunities at work, or you may not be able to break through a plateau at the gym. And what I want to explain here is, that’s okay. You can’t continuously make progress in your career, or continuously run faster, or constantly hit new PRs in the gym (unless you’ve figured out a way – if so please let me know!!).
What I do want you to do though, is expand your mindset to be able to recognize progress in multiple dimensions in your life. So maybe you are feeling stuck at work, but you’ve been making great strides in your fitness. Or maybe you’ve been struggling to find time to pursue your hobby, but you’ve got an exciting event coming up with a good friend. Recognize that progress is not one-dimensional, and at different points in your life you may make progress in different parts of your life.
Allow yourself to acknowledge and celebrate that improvement in a part of your life you don’t always focus on, and be proud. Be proud of mastering that tricky piano lick, or the awesome renovation to your home. Not every instance of progress needs to happen in one facet like career or fitness, and it’s important to be thoughtful as to where you’re putting your energy for maximum value.
Which brings us to our next section….
Identifying the Path of Least Resistence
As mentioned, sometimes you’ll hit roadblocks or stagnation in a certain part of your life. When this happens, it may feel like you’re pushing up against a brick wall, and there’s no progress to be made. This may be a sign that this part of your life may need a step back. By thinking about progress in multiple dimensions, you can still find that feeling of improvement and growth despite hitting a snag in one dimension.
Think of Life life a Jenga Tower
You can think of your life a bit like a jenga tower (remember these?). Each block represents a different facet of your life. Sometimes the blocks slide really easily out of the tower. But sometimes, the blocks bind up, and you can’t move them. What happens if you push to hard on a block that doesn’t want to move? The whole tower comes down. If you instead wait until the weight shifts, you may find that block is moving freely again.
Your life is very similar. Sometimes your career block moves very easily. Opportunities present themselves freely and you can take advantage of them and progress. But sometimes, just like the block in the jenga tower, your career may lock up and stop moving. Do you keep pushing on that same block? No, just like the jenga tower, that will have consequences, likely in the form of burn-out. Instead, you shift your attention to another block. So you may push on the fitness block and find it’s moving easily.
But don’t forget about the career block when it’s bound. Just like in Jenga, intermittently you’ll check in on that block and see if it’s moving. By doing so, you’re in a position to capitalize the moment that the block gets unstuck. So maybe you’re pursuing a promotion, but there’s no positions available. By intermittently checking in on to see if there’s movement, the moment the position presents itself, you can be in a great position to take advantage of it.
On top of checking for movement, the other key piece of capitalizing when you break through a plateau is performing maintenance.
Maintenance between Periods of Growth
By recognizing that progress is made in multiple dimensions, we also need to acknowledge that progress can’t be made in all dimensions at all times. In fact, trying to make progress in all directions at once will be counter productive. In his book, Essentialism, Patrick Mckeown argues that by focusing on one or two things at once, you can make a lot more progress.
So what do you do with the dimensions that are not the area of focus? Well that is where the maintenance comes in. It’s important to continue to maintain to prevent backsliding. So when you’re not making progress, you need to give the dimension enough energy to: a) preserve the prior growth, and b) be well positioned to take advantage when there is room for growth.
In the career example above where there’s no roles open for promotion, imagine two opposite scenarios. Imagine you stopped putting energy into your job because you got discouraged. You did enough to get by, but were certainly slacking. When a position eventually comes open, do you imagine you’ll be selected for the role? Likely not, as you’ve not been performing. Now imagine the opposite scenario where you continue to put enough energy to perform your job at a high level, but no more. When the role comes up, you’ll be well positioned to either go for the role, or quickly get yourself up to speed to pursue the role further.
So make sure the parts of your life that you’re not focusing on or making progress in are still given enough energy so you can ramp up quickly when needed.
Progress in Multiple Dimensions – Conclusion
Moving forward, I encourage to take a more holistic look at your life and think about progress in multiple dimensions. Think about where you’re putting your energy, and where the path of least resistance lies. Consider how to maintain the areas that are blocked, so you are well positioned when an opportunity arises. Also, for your own sake, be able to recognize and celebrate accomplishments and growth outside of your traditional focus areas. This feeling of gratitude will work wonders for your mental state and motivation. So take some time, and see how this thinking can fit in your life.
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