50 pushups a day.
That’s my new goal.
When we set goals we usually tend to have something measurable. It’s easier to know if you reach your goal.
So if I hit this pushup goal does it mean I am healthy? Maybe, but what if my diet is terrible or I smoke? There are other factors that matter.
How do we measure growth? By how many accomplishments or by changes in perspective? One is a lot more measurable but it’s the wrong way to measure growth.
Going through challenges can be a great learning experience. There is no grand result but you might have changed. More compassionate, more understanding, more mature. Going through challenges could be more beneficial than some grand accomplishment.
Society shows and tells us that success is money, status, beauty, but what is the true indicator of success. We don’t know where everyone started. Some people have impossible situations.
When I talk to people they tell me about their jobs, families, success and they all have this confidence that they are going in the right direction. Don’t get me wrong I am happy for them, but who actually knows where they are going.
We all end up in the same place, so why are we in a huge rush to complete all the checkboxes on life’s to-do list. And you might ask why do anything? I am not suggesting apathy. But I purpose we focus on the why and the how.
Life is unpredictable, and no one is in total control of their lives. But we do have control of our perspective, which affects how we react to things.
At first I was fixated on measuring my growth by how many accomplishments I had. Looking inward I started to measure my growth by changes in my perspective. Stoicism talks about living life by knowing what is in your control and what is not.
Don’t be so quick to judge someone, you don’t know what they’ve been through or if they have a perspective of some kind of guru. Or some kind of perspective that could make them a lovable person. Change your perspective on growth and how it’s measured.
