When your progress stops or reverses, how do you regain positive traction? Let’s talk about backslides.

When I was 15, I learned to drive a stick shift on Georgia hills in a green Volkswagen van. It’s an intense moment for a new driver when you reach that stop sign at the top of a hill. Get it in gear, release the clutch as you hit the gas, and pray you avoid the dreaded backslide.

Backslides also happen in life. We’d all love to have a lifetime of consistent forward improvement, but it doesn’t work that way. Even when committed to growth, you will encounter backslides affecting your job, health, wealth, habits, and relationships.

During these moments or prolonged periods, backslides can drain your energy, deflate your spirit, and diminish your ability and willingness to continue. This is toxic and strangely satisfying, as you can easily slip into victim mode, accommodating the decline rather than reversing it. Instead, zoom out your perspective, think beyond the immediate situation to a long term trajectory, and then you can take these actions.

1. Stop the slide.  Avoid compounding mistakes and set backs. Hit the brakes. Slow down, and open your perspective to become a humble student.

2. Turn falls into fuel. Just as every downside has an upside, every backslide has a benefit if you can learn, elevate intentions, and change your current patterns. Don’t miss the lesson you’ve already paid for.

3. Recalibrate wins. Old measures of success, back when you were crushing it, probably don’t apply here. Count forward progress as a “win.”

4. Share the lesson. Help someone else avoid a similar backslide, and you will cement the learning for yourself.

Times are challenging for everyone. Hills and backslides are inevitable. Yet each one provides an opportunity to reach a new level of clarity and mastery, setting yourself apart while propelling you forward. Until next week, stay Off Balance On Purpose.