Typically, when we are setting goals, we try to pick something that’s hard to reach.

You want to do something you’ve never done before.

Or when you get to a certain level, you pick the next level to get to.

You “raise the bar”.

The problem with raising the bar is that you are shooting for something that is beyond your best efforts so far.

It’s beyond your capabilities.

In Do Hard Things, Steve Magness discusses the concept of “raising the floor”.

What does that mean?

Instead of shooting for that lofty and likely unattainable (now) goal, flip it.

Try to elevate your minimum.

Take the average of your last few efforts and make that your new minimum.

For example, if I want to set a goal to write 1 page a day. It would be raising the bar because I’m not doing that yet.

Say my average daily output was half a page. Sometimes one quarter page, sometimes three quarters of a page, and sometimes half a page. I could raise the floor and say that half a page is the smallest amount I will do.

Forget about worrying about the maximum or the raising the bar.

Commit to raising the floor and not writing less than half a page. If that’s your average.

It helps you build confidence because it is doable. You’ve done it.

And the consistency will help increase your skills.