Thoughts on Growth and Evaluation

With the new year freshly upon us and those New Year's Resolutions still intact, one thing that I've come across is the concept of growth. Most resolutions, New Year's or otherwise, have some sort of measure of growth. A year-long fast from chocolate measures growth by the ability to avoid eating chocolate. For my personal resolution, growth is measured by getting a book, reading through it, and writing a review. Each step of this cycle that is completed is demonstrative of a little bit of growth. It's easy and measurable. But what about things that aren't so easily measured? How do we measure growth in, for example, becoming a better mother? Or breaking an addiction?

"...growth is determined by the achievement of these smaller goals."

Mindtools.com says that goal setting starts with "big picture" goals, which we proceed to break down into smaller and smaller, more manageable goals. For example, if I want to learn German (big goal), I would break it down by looking for classes, figuring out what level of proficiency I desire, finding peers who want to learn German, etc. Then, growth is determined by the achievement of these smaller goals.



But what about for things that cannot be broken down into smaller goals? For example, what if I were a smoker, and my goal were to quit? How do I measure growth toward achieving that goal? Making smaller goals could serve to be counterproductive. "I will stop smoking for one month." Then what? I have a smoke? Or do I just move straight on to the next goal of two months? Every time I stop smoking, I have "quit" smoking, but that doesn't mean that I have quit permanently. What if I go for that one month, but smoke another cigarette? Have I quit? Have I grown? For the record, I'm not trying to make a statement about smoking and non-smoking. I'm just using this as an example.

For situations like this, growth has to be measured in a different manner. Should growth be measured by how long I am able to resist between falling? "I hadn't smoked for two and a half months until this one. That's better than my last run for seven weeks." Should I try to measure my attitude toward smoking? "I know I smoked, but I knew that it was wrong and just couldn't take it anymore." Is there another measuring rod?

"Observing growth can be encouraging and help us to keep motivated to keep pursuing our goals"

The more that I think about it, the more that I feel the answer must be a mixture of all of them. If my ultimate goal is to quit smoking, then I take an inventory of the degree of my addiction. How much do I smoke? How long do I typically go before I feel an urge to smoke? I also evaluate how I feel about smoking. Why do I want to quit? How do I feel about other people smoking? How does that compare to the way I feel about me smoking? Then I start not smoking.

Periodically, I reevaluate. When was the last time I smoked? How often to I feel the urge to smoke? How do I feel about smoking? Have my motivations changed at all? How do I feel about others smoking? Most importantly, I need to make sure I compare how I respond to these questions now with how I responded to them in the past. And I use the difference to encourage me to continue toward my goal.

Evaluation of growth is important with any goal or resolution. Observing growth can be encouraging and help us to keep motivated to keep pursuing our goals, regardless of what they are.

What about you? How is your attitude toward growth?
It's still early in the year, do you need to reevaluate your New Year's Resolution to make it easier to track your growth?