The Goal...Progress not Perfection

Guest Blogger
Ryan C. Schultz

Age 19

It is important to know that you don’t need to be perfect to be successful in whatever you do. So often in today’s world, perfection seems to be the goal. You need to realize that even the slightest progress is still progress and you are getting better. Setting goals is a good way to keep track of your progress. Every time you achieve a goal, you get more confident and motivated. You feel accomplished and develop a desire to achieve other goals you have set for yourself.

When I was playing baseball, I wanted to work on my swing. I felt I needed to get better to be competitive. So, I set a goal and established a system for improvement. I would do the same routine every day. I would start out hitting wiffle balls off the tee. Then I would move on to baseballs. I would do a few buckets of each, swinging the bat with my left hand, then switching to my right, and then I would swing with both hands. Next I would do soft toss or flip toss to work on having a good mechanics with my swing. Finally I would hit with someone throwing to me in the cage. I could see and feel the progress I was making in developing a solid swing.

This is an example of progress not perfection because I wasn’t expecting perfection. I knew that with the routine I was doing, I would recognize the progress I was making to get better. This would then translate to more confidence in a game situation and a better overall performance.

A systematic routine is important when you set your goals because it is a way to track the progress you’ve made. As mentioned, perfection isn’t very realistic. The important thing to remember is that as we work to improve, measured progress is what we desire, not perfection.

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