Quotes About Progress

Don't obsess about the failures. Instead, investigate and clone the successes.

To experience more defining moments, we need to rethink the way we set goals.

Big problems are rarely solved with commensurately big solutions.

What's working and how can we do more of it?" That's the bright-spot philosophy in a single question.

Relationships don't deepen naturally. In the absence of action, they will stall.

When you're at the beginning, don't obsess about the middle, because the middle is going to look different once you get there. Just look for a strong beginning and a strong ending and get moving.

Buckingham has a fine series of books on making the most of your strengths rather than obsessing about your weaknesses.)

Make the change small enough that they can't help but score a victory.

Because day-to-day change is gradual, even imperceptible, it's hard to know when to jump. Tripwires tell you when to jump.

If you want a reluctant Elephant to get moving, you need to shrink the change.

The other advantage of scaling the miracle is that it demystifies the journey. Let

The value of the miracle scale is that it focuses attention on small milestones that are attainable and visible rather than on the eventual destination, which may seem very remote.

if people are facing a daunting task, and their instinct is to avoid it, you've got to break down the task. Shrink the change. Make the change small enough that they can't help but score a victory.

By using Kamb's level-up strategy, we multiply the number of motivating milestones we encounter en route to a goal. That's a forward-looking strategy: We're anticipating moments of pride ahead.

Everything can look like a failure in the middle." A similar sentiment is expressed by marriage therapist Michele Weiner-Davis, who says that "real change, the kind that sticks, is often three steps forward and two steps back." If failure is a necessary part of change, then the way people understand failure is critical.

should not be "losing 10 pounds," it should be something intrinsically motivating, such as "Fitting into my sexy black pants (without gastrointestinal distress)." Suddenly, your weight-loss mission starts looking more like a playful quest, with frequent victories along the way, and less like a daily weigh-in on the bathroom scale

marry your long-term goal with short-term critical moves.

Finding bright spots, then, solves many different problems at once. That's no surprise; successful change efforts involve connecting all three parts of the framework: Rider, Elephant, and Path.

Roy Baumeister draws an analogy to driving—in our cars, we may spend 95% of our time going straight, but it's the turns that determine where we end up.

Habits are behavioral autopilot, and that's why they're such a critical tool for leaders. Leaders who can instill habits that reinforce their teams' goals are essentially making progress for free. They've changed behavior in a way that doesn't draw down the Rider's reserves of self-control.

How can you create a habit that supports the change you're trying to make? There are only two things to think about: (1) The habit needs to advance the mission, as did Pagonis's stand-up meetings. (2) The habit needs to be relatively easy to embrace. If it's too hard, then it creates its own independent change problem. For

In tough times, the Rider sees problems everywhere, and "analysis paralysis" often kicks in. The Rider will spin his wheels indefinitely unless he's given clear direction. That's why to make progress on a change, you need ways to direct the Rider. Show him where to go, how to act, what destination to pursue. And that's why bright spots are so essential, because they are your best hope for directing the Rider when you're trying to bring about change.

You can't count on these milestones to occur naturally. To motivate change, you've got to plan for them.

British Medical Journal asked its readers to vote on the most important medical milestone that had occurred since 1840, when the BMJ was first published. Third place went to anesthesia, second place to antibiotics. The winner was one you might not have expected: the "sanitary revolution," encompassing sewage disposal and methods for securing clean water. Much of the world, though, is still waiting for that revolution to come.