Waiting and Anticipating
What are you anxiously waiting for?
My writing has fallen off recently. Maybe it’s writer’s block, or maybe it’s the challenge of developing ideas when life feels full. When I hit these moments, I look for inspiration—and recently, I found it through Mark Cole the CEO of Maxwell Leadership.
After watching one of his teaching videos, my thoughts began to center around the idea of waiting and anticipating the results of our goals. Waiting is rarely passive. When we’re waiting for something meaningful, our minds often get noisy. Thoughts become polluted with doubt. Anxiety creeps in as we focus on how long it’s taking to see results. Then come the perceived roadblocks—and our own negative interpretations of them.
We want immediate gratification. And when progress doesn’t come fast enough, we sometimes create interference where none needs to exist.
That’s why having a plan that builds momentum is vital. A strong plan can overshadow pauses in achievement and keep us moving forward, even when progress feels slow. We all want progression, but meaningful goals rarely unfold in a straight line. Achieving something special often includes seasons where things don’t fall neatly into place. We won’t see every variable or every path to fulfillment—and that’s okay.
What matters is anticipating the bumps and staying committed to the plan. When challenges arise, we must continue working our process and using the strategies that serve us best. Goal development requires trust—trust in the plan, trust in the process, and trust in ourselves.
External adversity is a real momentum killer. How many times has a situation—or a person—interfered with your progress? Maybe you didn’t get the promotion. Maybe weather caused you to miss an important meeting or opportunity. These are things outside of our control. While we can anticipate some challenges, we can’t plan for everything.
What we can control is whether we lose focus on the dream or the vision. Progress demands a never-give-up mindset—an attitude that refuses to be derailed by circumstances.
Then there’s internal adversity—often the most damaging of all. And the biggest culprit? Ourselves.
We are often our own harshest critics. Instead of offering ourselves compassion, we fixate on what’s going wrong or who we think we should be by now. These internal conversations quietly sabotage momentum and diminish confidence. If we want to move the needle forward, we must learn to quiet the voices that undermine our progress and replace them with messages that support growth.
Take a moment to reflect:
What thoughts are racing through your mind related to your goals or level of achievement?
What adversities—external or internal—are interfering with your progress?
What messages are you telling yourself, and are they actually helping you move forward?
Waiting and anticipating results is something we all face in personal development and growth. We set goals, hold onto dreams, and wait for them to come to fruition. In the meantime, we are the only ones who can keep what matters most at the forefront of our daily actions.
Establish your growth plan. Take control of your mindset. Move past adversity with intention and resilience.
Have a great week—and if you’d like to engage in a deeper conversation around growth, mindset, or goal achievement, I’d love to connect.
