Day 22: Look back!

For many years I used to climb, often in Scotland and occasionally in the winter.  The problem with winter climbing in Scotland is that you usually have to walk long distances, uphill, in snow, carrying a heavy pack on your back for a few hours, just to get to the crag that you actually want to climb.  Walking in snow is especially difficult as it sometimes feels that you take two steps forward and one back,  Each time you step forward the snow slips away and you find yourself slipping with it.  It's hard work and sometimes it felt that I was making no progress at all towards my destination.  It is at times like this that I used to turn around and check that the car park from where I had departed was indeed a lot further away.  Why am I telling you all this?  Well, sometimes it can feel that you are making no progress towards your goal, and one good tip is:

Tip 22: When you feel like you are making no forward progress, remind yourself how far you have come.

Applying a more structured model to this experience, there are broadly four stages that people go through when learning a new task or skill.  First there is the 'uninformed optimism' stage (Where you really want to for your goal but you don't really know what is involved).  This stage is followed by 'Informed pessimism' - where the reality of what you have taken on finally sinks in and you realise that perhaps this goal was not as easy as you thought it might be.  However, with some perseverance the third stage is 'Informed optimism' (also known as 'conscious competence') - this is characterised by a sense that 'I'm not there yet, but with a bit more practise I can make it'.  Finally, there is the 'unconscious competence' stage where the new behaviour/skill is so embedded that it feels like a habit and you don't need to think about it too much.  Stage 2 is the one I described in my climbing story.  It is the stage where most people give up because it feels like hard work and both your competence and commitment to the new task are low.  Knowing that it is just a temporary phase (part of the learning process, something to pass through in order to get where you want to go) and reminding yourself that you have actually made progress can help you get through.

Take a few minutes to write down in your learning log some evidence to show just how far you have come already.