I’m continually humbled with my actual results versus my expectations in most goals I attempt to accomplish. With a self-declared goal of a curl up from a dead hang, I assumed this could be achieved with approximately three months of consistent practice. Perhaps it’s simply the media I consume or some sort of expectation with how self-improvement goals are often packaged and advertised, but three to four months seems to be a very popular length of time for goal-achieving. I can only theorize that I assumed this time frame would also translate with my goal, but when those months rolled on by and little progress had been made, I was quickly proven wrong.
I didn’t even start from zero with my goal as I had been attempting curl ups and pull ups for many months prior, but that didn’t seem to get me there much faster. The first documented evidence of my progress was taken in January 2023 but it wasn’t until November of that same year where I could honestly say “Yes, I did this”. Starting around September 2023 and aligning with my first Season of Change, I made curl ups one of my Health & Physical goals so I did begin to prioritize strength training more consistently which I’m sure is what made all the difference.
The majority of the curl up was easily achieved in the beginning as I could get my chin over the bar, but I really struggled with overcoming that first initial hold of gravity when my legs had no ground support. It took a while before I could curl up without also ‘jumping’ to get over the bar and it took even longer before I could completely remove my feet from the ground and pull myself up using only my upper body. But when it finally happened, a little joy leapt in my heart as I had stuck with a goal even when it felt hopeless at times.
This whole process was an eye-opener and a truly great learning experience for me. I’ve always had rose-colored glasses on when learning and trying new things and assumed goals would be easier to achieve than their reality, but I’ve learned that I’m just not one of those people who “gets” most things quickly. I need more time, more practice, and more patience to land where I’ve aimed. And in the example of my curl ups, I needed more consistency and ancillary building blocks (strength training).
It’s a bit unfortunate that I didn’t grasp this knowledge earlier as I may have kept on with more goals from my past, but learning lasts a lifetime, and this is one lesson that finally stuck.