Feelings influence beliefs
Many start January with goals to get fit, lose weight or be more active. Yet, according to research by Strava, billed as the world’s largest sports participation platform, within a few weeks of starting an exercise regime, people quit. Dubbed Quitter’s Day, the fateful date was 17 January in 2019. It was 19 January for 2020.
After-work fatigue, invitations for after-work or weekend events, and January blues can all lay claim to a failure to persistare all blamed for why many end up giving up on these goals.
It is easy to blame outside factors for a failure to persist, when in. In fact, our own thoughts and fears are usually the root cause.
The more we think about something, the more intensely we feel it. The more we focus on certain thoughts, the more they take control.
In the case of fitness, the more we think about the pain of physical activity, especially if it is less unfamiliar to us, the less likely we are to take actions associated with pain.
Similarly, the more we think about the joy of fitting into new clothes, the overall sense of well-being we may feel if we persist, the more likely we are to take actions associated with these feelings.
How we feel
Our feelings influences what we believe will happen. When we entertain negative feelings, such as those associated with pain, loss and guilt, we are motivated to prepare for the worst that can happen.
In contrast, when we engage with feelings associated with joy, gain and progress, we prepare for the best that can happen. Both are possible in any given moment.
One restricts us, and the other moves us closer to what we want.
Believing in a positive future creates possibility
ClassPass, a studio fitness and wellness platform was started by Payal Kadakia in 2013.
In January 2020 it became a , ‘Unicorn’ – a start-up valued at $1billion.
The journey started when Payal went to a friend’s birthday in 2010. At the party she was inspired by the people she met, some of whom were building apps full time .
She gave herself two weeks to think of an idea.
A day and a half after she got back from the party, she was having trouble finding a suitable ballet class. Instead of getting frustrated, she began to explore: “What if I could build a search engine for classes?”
Her belief that she could create something of use to her and many others triggered a life-changing journey.
Onwards
We are unlikely to achieve what we hope for in our first attempt.
Yet, persistence grounded in exploring what is possible allows us to ask, “What can I do differently next time?”
For example, ClassPass originally started as Classivity in 2010, as an OpenTable for class schedules. It generated interest but clients did not book. This led to Passport in 2012, which allowed users ten chances to try one class at a new studio.
When they found classes they loved, they started using fake emails to return.
This led to another version in 2013. This iteration resulted in a $99 per month membership for an unlimited number of classes, but just three classes a month in the same studio.
This membership gave people enough time to try out new classes.
Continuously testing and learning highlighted opportunities to accelerate progress and remove obstacles.
Another uplifting story comes from a Harvard Business Review article on professional transitions.
It describes the evolution of Judith’s career from partner in accounting firm to partner in a venture capital fund.
Judith began to organise reading groups for those interested in Judaism. By speaking with more people, she realised that she was limiting her sense of possibility by believing that she could not do anything new.
She began to investigate moving to venture capital, an area that leveraged her skills but one she never previously considered as she thought the work was repetitive.
Within six months she started as a senior analyst, and within two years, she was offered a partnership.
Draw on diverse experiences
Sometimes, embracing possibility requires us to draw on our different experiences and networks to make connections that may not be obvious.
Lynda Gratton is a London Business School professor who is well-known for her work on the changing nature of work and its implications. She has evolved her career by starting from an academic background, moving to Chief Psychologist at British Airways.
She then moved to PA Consulting, and to Assistant Professor at London Business School. It would have been unusual, back in the 1980s, to make transitions like this.
Yet, she credits her varied background with helping her to develop a distinctive approach that helps others to evolve professional experiences that span traditional boundaries and that capture individual needs in and outside work .
We may wait for a set of right conditions that may never come.
In order to achieve our goals, it is more helpful for us to accept that nothing stays the same.
When we deliberately ask questions like, “What if..” , “What is the next best move?” and “What can I do differently next time?”, we trigger feelings and actions based on what is possible. In so doing, we nudge ourselves to keep moving forward.