Since New Year’s is just around the corner, many are thinking about improving themselves through resolutions. Whenever I think about goalsetting, I remember the philosophy of my archery teacher in college.
My teacher imprinted on us the importance of positive thinking. This wasn’t necessarily about having a cheerful attitude. It was about consistently focusing on the thing we were trying to achieve rather than what we were avoiding.
For example, if someone said, “My goal for this class is to not hit the string with my arm when I fire,” she would make them do a rewrite. A better goal would be, “I will keep my arm and shoulder relaxed and steady so my body makes a straight line and my arm is in a safe position compared to the bow string.”
I learned that the time you spend thinking about the desired action helps you become more of an expert in it. By directing energy into your archery form, you can think of a dozen little ways to improve it, from taking a breath before you draw to maybe adjusting your bow to a weight more appropriate to your strength and skill level.
This is much more effective than fixating on the scary failure and all the possible ways it could happen. That’s becoming an expert in failure. All us humans are kind of toddlers; telling us NO just makes us tend to do the thing more.
My teacher had another rule. Any goal had to be achievable on our side of the firing line. Or, something we would be able to measure even if someone took the target away and we weren’t able to judge where our arrows landed. No “I will get a bullseye.” Because once the arrow left the bow, circumstances were out of our control. So our efforts had to focus on ourselves.
That’s the attitude I cultivate. I’ve never resonated with stories where someone wears themself out, but still just has to try the same thing but harder and with higher stakes to succeed. I say, go back to those foundational skills and let them help you see the problem in a new way.
