Another is to compare yourself to what you believe the end goal state is.

Both of these methods are flawed and can easily lead to self-defeating thoughts.

A better way of gauging progress is to focus on the gradient, the learning/achievement rate. Here is why.

The Flaws of State based Comparisons

If you compare your current state to that of an end goal you are faced with a gloomy binary comparison.

You are either in the goal state or you are not. In other words you have either already succeeded or you are currently in a failed state. So for 99% of your journey towards a goal you are stuck with a viewpoint of failing, I imagine this to be rather disheartening.

The other version of state based comparison is when you compare yourself to others.

During my journey to Japanese fluency I often find myself comparing my level of ability with those of other people who are studying. Discarding the very inaccurate perceptions used to judge other peoples levels, there is a deeper problem.

Comparing yourself to others is very similar to comparing yourself to an end goal. The difference being that you are simply introducing more possible states.

So instead of simply failing to be at your end goal you get to put yourself on a ladder with others. While sometimes you may think you are doing well, this is just a tumultuous journey plagued by the basis of shaky perceptions.

Gift of the Gradient Measure

If you use the rate of progress as your primary measure then your focus will be how to be better or go faster rather than where your feet are.

It is a focus on the present moment.

If your goal has objective means upon which you can measure then you will truly have a powerful means of improving your ability to reach a goal.

Not only that but you will be happier on the way.

Pretend that you are the person that you want to be and slowly you will become that person.

This is half of the logic behind using good posture to beat fear. You will never become something if you never try to be it.

I believe that this method of acting is effective for the majority of the changes you may want to make in your life.

Don’t make this Mistake

A common mistake is acting out only half of the behaviours that you want to embody. This often happens when trying to be like another person (I hear people saying be the self you want to be).

When wanting to be a rich person, people try to act rich by spending lots of money. This will not make you a rich person, trust me.

You need to model all the behaviours that make up a rich person.

So you want to make up a business plan, look for niche markets and learn about finances.

If you can accurately imitate a rich person in all their totality than chances are that you will be a rich person.

Pretend to be Happy

When it comes to pretending to exist in different emotional states you have to have a little extra understanding.

The only difference between pretending to be angry and being angry is that in one of them you are in control and can choose how to act.

In order to pretend to be in a certain emotional state you have to first free any emotion that is lying in your chest.

Feel the pressure and sensation of the emotion in your chest and then let it melt away, breathing deeply can help.

Without making room for the new emotion of your choice you will only be able to act externally and it will be a shallow act.

The only way to become anything is to believe all the way to your core that you are already it and go for it.

With all this said you can always pretend to be happy, or rather, you can always be happy.

Happy now?