Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday!
​
​tl;dr Success is a process, not a destination. Consider the millionaire who gambled away all his earnings; we would no longer consider him a success. Consider the bodybuilder who never truly reconciled their eating disorder and spirals after every show, but what is a trophy without peace of mind? Success looks different for all of us, but the three keys to being successful in any area are to construct a system, make it fun, and create reinforcements.
​
What would you consider yourself successful at in your life? Is it your career? Your role as a parent? Your contribution to a community? Whatever that success is for you, use that to model the things you are struggling to improve upon.
​
Your greatest success comes from a sustained effort of learning, correcting, and growing over a considerable period of time. You didn’t become great at your job without trials and tribulations. And you certainly didn’t become an all-star parent in a couple of weeks or months. You developed in those roles by practicing that skill repeatedly, learning what did and didn’t work, and improving as well as you could have. Possibly most importantly, you didn’t give up.
​
So how can you use what you have already been successful in to model what you are currently struggling to improve?
​
First, consider how to systematize that skill. Work has a system, either your boss created for you or you made yourself. You repeat the paperwork, or the thought process, or the meeting until you can do it with your eyes closed. It’s designed for efficiency. Without a system at work, every day, people would need to relearn how to do their assignments, teams would have to be reintroduced, and nothing would ever get done.

This seems ridiculous to even be stating because, of course, we need systems at work. But then you wonder why you’re not reaching your other goals when you have no systems in place.
​
Health goals? You need systems. New skill goal? You need systems. Sleep goals? You need systems! Yes, even for sleep.
​
Systems create habituation, which decreases the need for willpower. When you don’t have to think about when or where you are going to practice the skill, it is more likely to get done. And when striving for success in a new area, we need repetition. So putting systems in place to make it simpler to get your reps in makes it more likely to create success.
​
We’ll take our tried and true health goals. Instead of waiting to see if you have time after work and making dinner when you’re on the couch and out of steam, schedule your time. Get used to packing a gym bag to take to work, so you don’t have a reason not to go. When you have the energy and the time to do so, put a plan in place that makes you the least likely to fail. Systems are not foolproof, but they improve your chances a heck of a lot.
​
Next, you want to make it fun. Is every moment of every process going to be fun? Of course not. I’m sure not every minute of your success story was a fun one. But, without some moments to look forward to, you create something unsustainable.

During your successful career or in your role as a parent, there were moments of bliss that made it all worth it. Maybe your job is truly fulfilling, and you have that moment that makes the grind seem not so bad, even momentarily. Or as a parent, when your child gets complimented or compliments you, I imagine it makes the sleepless nights and the tears from exhaustion seem infinitesimally small in the grand scheme of things. You must find the fun in the process; otherwise, it’s a hopeless, uphill battle.
​
Whatever your new venture is, find the joy that drew you to it in the beginning. Is it the fun of creating? Or the fun of connecting? Maybe it’s the fun of being present in the moment. Sometimes when we stress about our progress, we forget the joy of why we started it in the first place. Get back to the fun to keep you steadfast on your journey.
​
Lastly, for your journey to success, create reinforcements. There are positive and negative reinforcements that helped you progress in your career. Positive reinforcements are the raises, the promotions, and the connections you get to make when you do well. Negative reinforcements are getting fired when you don’t show up, no matter how much you don’t want to. These reinforcements exist because we are human and we need both push and pull motivation to reach our goals. We are pulled towards the higher salary and quality of life, and we push away anything that will increase our risk of getting fired.

Without reinforcements, we can get jaded by the process. There are times when we have to do a lot of work without seeing a tremendous amount of results. That is the nature of non-linear progress. Reinforcements serve us in these periods of time.
​
Creating positive and negative reinforcements can help you stay on track, no matter what your new journey to success looks like. If it’s getting to the gym, a positive reinforcement is to buy something for yourself you’ve been wanting (within reason) when you set a new record for yourself. A negative reinforcement is buying your partner something he or she wants when you don’t go to the gym the number of times you said you were going to. Push and pull motivators, they work well together.
​
To recap, no matter what you’re trying to improve upon for yourself, utilize these three steps: create a system, make it fun, and support your efforts with reinforcements. You will increase your odds for success!
​
If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM.
​
This week, my podcast recommendation is from 10% Happier with Dan Harris, “The Science of Talking: Boost Your Mood, Sharpen Your Mind, and Protect Against Dementia with Maryellen MacDonald.”
​
With that, if you’re working on how to apply these to your health goals, don’t hesitate to reach out about coaching for additional accountability and strategies.
​
Until next time,
Shannon