This seems a very obvious thing to say but it’s sometimes easy to overlook.
We can become so fixated on our goals and where we want to ‘get to’ that we can often forget to take stock of where we’re at right now (and, as a side note, to be grateful for what we’re already capable of doing).
The temptation can be to want to progress too quickly to ‘do the thing’ rather than enjoying and trusting in the process - and seeing that as an end in itself.
A case in point for me is working with the rings - to say they keep my ego in check is something off an understatement. I struggle with just about everything that I do on them.
In the back of my mind I have the goal of one day doing a ‘muscle up’ - I’m following a structured and hopefully I’ll hit that ‘impossible’ sometime but right now it feels like a distant goal so my key intention is to simply to enjoy that exploration and see where it takes me.
It can also be helpful to call to mind the journey that we’ve had with other movements and postures - for example it took me 2 years to achieve a handstand press but how often do I call that to mind when I’m struggling with a new movement? Probably not often enough…
I tend to take what I ‘can do’ for granted and have often had the tendency to get frustrated about what I ‘can’t do’ (though it does feel like there’s been a significant shift in this regard over the last couple of years - I’m definitely much more accepting than I used to be…maybe a sign than age is finally yielding some wisdom 😁).
It’s also important when we approach something new to ask ourselves ‘what’s my current movement capacity - and how does that map to my movement goals’?
Taking stock is so important as it then allows us to develop a strategy for approaching that movement or pose over time - it’s the approach I take in my teaching and when I’m working with students individually and the one I apply to my own practice as well.
But the key thing is to take that journey progressively - accepting where we’re at right now and not trying to rush the process. It makes for a much more enjoyable and rewarding practice over time…and perhaps it even helps us to have less attachment to the end result.