Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

A goal progression is the process of moving gradually towards a more advanced state.  A great example of a progression is the process of developing the ability to do a handstand push-up.

An uninformed person would just attempt a handstand push-up on day one.   Then think they could just keep attempting to execute this advanced exercise until one day they just get it.  However, if you have ever tried to do a handstand push-up without any prior experience, then you understand how difficult this is.

The average person could never learn how to do a handstand push-up by only doing handstand push-ups.  That is why there is a handstand push-up progression.

I found an example of this progression on a blog called CrossFit MKG.

As you can see, there are multiple steps in the progression you must master before you even attempt a handstand push-up.   The goal progression order for a handstand push-up has 5 other goals you must be able to achieve to get the 6th and final long term goal of the handstand push-up:

1. A normal push-up
2. Pike push-up
3. Pike push-up with feet on a box
4. Wall supported isometric handstand
5. Wall supported handstand push-up
6. Then finally a handstand push-up.

In almost every fitness activity and sport, this concept of a progression exist.  I believe that this idea of developing a progression must also apply to your long term goals.

Defining a Goal Progression

Defining a goal progression is no different than defining a progression for a physical activity.   When you define the progression for a physical activity, you must first break down the athletic skills and muscle groups that need development.  Once you identify that, you then develop a routine around developing those skills and / or muscle groups.

A Goal Progression for Writing and Publishing a Book

Applying this thinking to a goal progression, we can use my goal of becoming a published author as our example.  Of course, I could just write a book and self-publish.  However, that would be jumping directly to the advanced state.  Instead, I want to move gradually to this advanced state as I develop the right skills.  The skills I need include:

1. Writing
2. Maintaining a website and blog to market my book
3. Understanding SEO and brand positioning for my book
4. Building demand for my book

Each of these skills have progressions as well.  If you have been following me over the last few months, you have noticed my goal progression on most if not all of these 4 things.

1. This is my 112th blog post in a row, so I get practice writing everyday.
2. I maintain this website (and many others over the years), so I continue to progress my skills in this area.
3. I study SEO and brand positioning a few times a week, and I use this blog and my social media pages to try out the skills I learn
4. Building demand for my book is one area I’m not working heavily on right now.  Although I am doing a few minor things to build an email list, I still don’t quite know the exact topic for my book.  I hope as I define my topic and build on the first 3 skills I can dive deeper into a progression for this. At any rate, I can foresee the need to also work on my public speaking and creating YouTube videos as part of this progression.

As I have shown, executing a goal progression requires patience but it’s worth it.  Success doesn’t happen overnight.  It’s better to make small, steady progress than to make no progress at all.

How to Break Any Goal Down into a Goal Progression

If you want to break a goal down into a goal progression you must put a considerable amount of thought into the processes of making progress. This thought pattern should break down the anatomy of the goal progression into three characteristics:

1. Repeatable: The goal progression must center around a routine you can either do daily, weekly, or something in between
2. Measurable: The goal progression must be one that you can track with precise numbers that lead to a visual representation of progress over time.
3. Systematic: The goal progression must intertwine with an overall system of proven processes that create synergy.

Next follow these six steps to break down your progression into daily activities you can execute:

1. First, break down the progression into specific meta skills required to progress towards your goal into 3 or 4 essentials.
2. Identify the meta skills that correlate directly with these essentials that come easy to you because you either enjoy it or because it’s effortless (your strengths).
3. Identify the meta skills that correlate directly with these essentials that don’t come easy to you because you don’t enjoy it or because you find it difficult (your weaknesses).
4. Create a daily routine that incorporates one or more of your strengths from #2.
5. Create three different weekly routines to be done on three different days that leverage your strengths from #2 in a way that helps your overcome the most essential weakness from #3.
6. Finally, create a monthly routine to measure progress, get feedback from outside mentors / coaches, and make adjustments as needed.