Do you ever make big plans of what you’re going to achieve on any given day, and then feel like you’re failed if you don’t get everything done? I’m sure we’ve all experienced that – and I’m here today to tell you how to reframe things so you can always feel like you’re doing a good job.

I’m also going to ask a good friend to help me out with delivering this message – Captain Bear!

Now, ‘bear’ with me (see what I did there?) – because this might seem a little odd… But my human, Annie, has a ship inside her mind and it’s crewed by some interesting folks, who help her in her day-to-day activities. It’s a concept she was introduced to by a writer and hypnotherapist at a writing festival years ago. I talked about this originally in my blog post back in September 2023, where I introduced the idea of the subconscious crew.

But there’s another member of the mind-ship crew, who takes the role of ‘inner mentor’. This is someone who is always in your corner, ready at a moment’s notice to offer support, encouragement and unconditional understanding and love. Sound familiar? Because, yes – that’s my role, too. But I’m happy to share it with Captain Bear, who is a six-foot-tall anthropomorphic bear in a ship’s captain hat!

He gives great hugs (another thing we have in common) and has an excellent mantra: all progress is good progress!

Sometimes, on the hardest days, it’s a struggle even to get out of bed in the morning. I know – it happens, and that’s okay. So, if you do manage to get out of bed on one of those days – that’s progress! If you plan to clean the entire flat and all you manage is one of the bathrooms – that’s progress! If you wanted to write 2000 words of your novel and all you managed was some brainstorming that might help shape the next scene – that’s progress!

Ambitious goals are great, as long as they serve to motivate you. But if you find yourself always setting unrealistic goals for your day, and then berating yourself for not meeting them, perhaps it’s time for a different approach.

Maybe try setting a really small goal, just to get you started – and then you can feel really accomplished when you exceed it. After all, all progress is good progress! And, no matter how much you do manage to achieve, you’re still further along towards your ultimate goal than you were before.

So, next time you feel like you’ve failed, take a look at what you’ve actually managed to get done, and imagine Captain Bear is there to celebrate your success with a big hug and an enthusiastic pat on the back.

 

Don’t forget to let me know how you get on – or if there’s anything you’d like me to talk about in an upcoming blog post!

 

You can email me at wisebearstanley@gmail.com

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And here’s where you can buy Stanley merch!