Set Realistic Expectation

Whenever you’re progressing at something, it’s very important to set realistic expectation.

Most people get inspired to try new things. It might be sport, academic subject or other things along those line.

If you see a video of guys skateboarding, you feel inspired to do the same. You wish you could skateboard the same way they do.

After you get inspired, you start to learn skateboarding. You might be making initial progress, but if you compare yourself with those professional skaters, you start to feel like a loser. You feel like you’ve not been making any progress because you’re still not like them.

It might be with anything. Playing basketball, football, guitar, speaking, blogging, etc.

It’s good to get inspired. But it’s very unhealthy to view them as competition. You’ll never feel like you’ve made significant progress. You’ll always feel like a loser.

You need to get the fundamentals right by focusing on the basics during the initial stage of learning. For example, if you’re inspired by Lebron James to start playing Basketball. You start to learn to dribble. Maybe you make significant progress than other people who area learning to play basketball. But after that, since you had Lebron James in mind, you’ll start to compare your skills with those top players and feel like you’ve not made any progress.

Most people quit after that.

Now that I’m aware of these behaviors, I remember how I quit learning to play guitar. I wanted to learn how to play the guitar after I saw my friends play it. It was awesome. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be able to play guitar by myself when I was lonely.

And then I started to learn how to play guitar. I went to classes and was making slow progress. But even after months of training, I couldn’t reach the level of my friends or of those who I looked up with inspiration.

After frustration, I quit it. Maybe I was making progress, but I didn’t see it because I was too focus on the outcome. I didn’t care about the fundamentals or the basics of playing guitar. I only focused on the outcome, which made me quit playing it altogether.

Maybe you’re also doing something similar on stuff you want to learn. You don’t have realistic expectation, and since you can’t meet those expectation, you quit.

Always keep in mind that you need to master the fundamentals first. You need to move on with basics. Look up others not as a competition but as a inspiration.

If you focus on the immediate next thing, you’ll slowly move towards the man you want to become. Focus on present and reward yourself for small victories you win along the way.

Set realistic expectation on anything you do. This is very important!