If, instead of walking up 10 stairs, you walk 2 steps up and 1 step back, you need to take 30 steps before you’re reliably on step 10. Inconsistent action increases the effort 3-fold.
Few of us manage changed behaviour from 1-10 without stumbling. But consider that we have all those steps to do again each time we stumble, making it even more daunting.
This is what it’s like on Level 3: Derailed. Not only is the effort exhausting, but it’s hard to keep up the self-belief.
Look, any progress is definitely better than none, so if your team is implementing some changes, some of the time, it’s a win. But it’s not as much a win as if they had the courage, knowledge, support and motivation to consistently pursue their goals.
The same is true of pursuing an opportunity. Derailed behaviour will ensure procrastination. Somehow the appropriate action ends up at the bottom of your To-Do list, and you let life get in the way. You don’t prioritise your goal. That’s fear acting surreptitiously to derail you in case you fail.
We now know many ways to prevent those backward slips – if you really want to move forward, you undoubtedly can!
