Yoga and Goal Setting

This past week I accomplished a goal I set for myself back in March, 26 weeks of daily yoga. The focus wasn't a perfect pose or flexibility, but to strengthen a commitment to my practice in preparation for upcoming life abroad. I can state that I have improved many of my poses and achieved greater flexibility. But the true gain was in taking my practice away from the realm of exercise and into the realm of body awareness.
I found that what was most useful in achieving this goal were the same items that were most useful in achieving goals at Apple and grad school, and will most likely be the most useful in achieving my community development goals in Azerbaijan. They are discovering what tools are most useful; identify what is unnecessary; measure progress; know what you're measuring.

1) Discover what tools are most useful.
I found the most useful tools for this goal was a simple 10 dollar foam block and a yoga book (Light on Yoga) that contained detailed photographs and instructions of all the postures, plus a massive 300 week recommended curriculum. These were the two most useful items I obtained for this, both of these allowed me to gain confidence in performing poses and helped keep my practice accurate and appropriate for my level.
Aggressively pursue what is truly useful towards your goal. Many times I try not to do something because it will cost a little bit of money or take a bit of time to set up. But my delay costs me lots more time or money because of inefficiency or apathy. Having the right tools to accomplish a task makes one want to accomplish the task. This extends beyond physical tools, like a foam block, to life skills such as leadership or public speaking skills.

2) Identify what is unnecessary
A few weeks in, I found my studio completely unnecessary and unhelpful. I would force myself to go too often and began to associate daily practice with a negative chore. A class at my studio felt more like a cardio workout rather than a yoga class. Once I canceled my membership it was months before I went to another class, but this time it was at a place that furthered my goal in the form of a six week series that was designed to give extremely detailed instruction to the 15 most fundamental postures.
By eliminating what is extra you keep your plan focused and reduce the risk of burning out on side projects that don't truly help. Though it may sound like a good idea, and maybe at some point would show itself to be a good idea, it may not be a good idea for the specific stage you are at in. And deciding to take it up might not just distract you, it might prevent accomplishment.

3) Measure progress
First starting out, I would notate what I had done each day and what my focuses for the upcoming week. As I got more used to this new habit of daily practice my notation switched to weekly, identifying the current routine I was on and focuses for the week. I also would mark up my book and write down any extra pieces of information to keep in mind.
Whether it be work or personal, I find that tracking progress is one of the most helpful things I can do and most difficult habits to get into. It requires reflection instead of action and is easy to push to the side while you are busy with all the other things in life. But when we give ourselves time to do this we can see if we are making headway, identify if anything needs to be changed, or simply validate what we've already achieved. Finding time to measure progress in the Apple Store was extremely difficult but well worth it. After some time with the numbers, I knew who to praise and thereby reinforce, who to follow up with and thereby course correct, and the new behaviors to focus on in order to not just achieve our forecasts, but blow them away.

4) Know what you're measuring
Measuring progress is important, but measuring the correct variable in your progress is more important. When I first began, I tracked the time I spent daily on the mat. This was great for a few days of early enthusiasm but quickly started to frustrate me as I continually felt my daily practice was inferior to a 60-90 minute class. I assumed I wasn't going anywhere. Eventually I switched my tracking of time to tracking of routine completion. Each week I would identify the routine to practice and tracked my completion of my identified routine. This kept the focus where it should be, routine vs. time, and kept me motivated.
Many times we default to the variable we have most frequently used as measurement in the past thereby restricting our creativity of what might be a more accurate assessment. In grad school when I switched tracking my progress in paper writing from pages written (measured in pages) to pages of outline written (measured in paragraphs) I ended up writing better papers, faster, and more enjoyably.