Counterpoint: Compromising on Your Goals is Not as Bad as You Think
Have you ever been told don’t compromise on your goals? I have, and you know what? It’s bad advice. For many hard core pundits, the thought of compromise is blasphemy. It’s all or nothing, no give and take, no retreat, and no surrender.
This thinking is fine when winning is a zero sum game. However, for most things in life other people don’t have to lose for you to win. An inch forward is progress, and any tiny bit of progress is worth fighting for.
Nothing illustrates this better than how one pursues a physical goal. If your goal is to bench press 225 pounds for example, you don’t start as a novice and just throw four 45 pound plates on a 45 pound Olympic bar and start bench pressing. That would be insane. You literally might kill yourself doing this without a spotter.
Instead of attempting the 225 pounds on your first day bench pressing, you compromise by first making your goal 135 pounds. In fact, if you’re a true beginner you might even need to start with just the 45 pound bar. Then from that point, this first compromise on your goal turns into a progression towards the ultimate goal of lifting 225.
This is how life works. It’s okay to compromise as long as 1) you don’t lose sight of your ultimate goal, and 2) have a process to inch forward consistently with a progression.