Reverse Mission Creep
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Mission creep is the gradual shift in objectives in a military mission. If a unit easily achieves its objective, it can be tempting to push a little farther, seizing the next bridge, town, or ridgeline. Each continuing success further emboldens the unit until, when failure finally comes, the leadership realizes that they are much farther forward than they should be, cut off from reinforcements or resupply.
A similar dilemma that I regularly encounter is ‘standards creep’. If a standard requires Marines to complete a 10-mile ruck in 2 hours and 30 minutes, an instructor might add, "But you should really finish in under 2 hours." Over time, 2 hours becomes the unofficial standard.
But today, I want to discuss the opposite of mission creep, which occurs when we begin demanding less of ourselves over time.
When setting out to achieve a new goal, we should create a mission statement that identifies what we want to accomplish, and the steps needed to achieve it.
At first, we’re motivated, so we take every step every day. Because we are taking the steps, we begin seeing results.
This is the danger zone. Once we start seeing results, it is easy to start slacking off. Skipping the last set in the gym, not logging all the food you eat, or allowing scrolling on the phone to slowly work its way into book reading time.
This happens slowly, almost imperceptibly (which is why we call it creep).
It is easy to convince ourselves that what we were doing has stopped working when in fact, we stopped doing what was working.
We stopped doing the work.
To combat reverse mission creep, consider a weekly standards review.
Identify:
What are the tasks you are trying to accomplish?
What standard are you holding yourself to?
Are you meeting the standard?
If not, either the task is no longer important to you, or you need to reassess, recommit, and get after it.
Until next week, don't be a creep
Keep Walking Point
John
If you have any questions or feedback about today's newsletter or if you'd just like to reach out, email me at john@walkingpoint.org. I’ll do my best to respond as quickly as possible.
