3 Ways to Approach a Challenge...

There are generally three ways we try to overcome a difficult challenge or situation : ‘try your best’, ‘try really hard’ or ‘try to get better’.

The ‘try your best’ approach, e.g. “I’ll try to read more this month”, is a low-stress, positive attempt to move forward that can work, but unless something is different this time, it just as often might not.

The ‘try really hard’ approach, e.g. “I’m going to read four books this month by reading for 2 hours every day” can be really motivating and achieve a lot in a short space of time, but can also fall apart the first time you fail to hit your target.

The ‘try to get better’ approach, e.g. “I’m going to change my routine and read for 30 minutes before breakfast” is a slower way of doing things, and can sometimes feel like a chore, but when the habit sticks it can deliver way more in the long-term.

I have tried all three, and they’ve each failed plenty of times - but they’ve each worked plenty of times too, especially when learn from the past and link the right approach to the right goal…