Here we are in the middle of the Dog Days of Summer. So today we start a five-part Dog Days series.

Of course, the term “Dog Days” refers to this time of year when it is hot and humid in much of the developed world. It goes back to a time before we had air conditioning, when it was just plain hard to get motivated to get much done.

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But the term has also come to mean times when there isn’t much progress. That’s what we’ll focus on today – identifying five common reasons behind slowed progress. It’s a problem we all face from time to time.

Dogging it

One reason we may not accomplish more is simply that we’re dogging it. It could just be laziness. However, we doubt that’s a problem in our community of bigg goal-getters.

It’s more likely a result of one of two other things:

• You set your goals high, but didn’t reach them. Now you’re discouraged. That’s understandable. But you have to get back in the race. Give yourself some time to lament. While you’re doing that, set a very short-term goal that stretches you just a little bit. Then chase it with all you have! It will get you back on track to bigg success.

• The flip side is that you did reach your goal. You feel good and good for you! You should. Take a little bit of time to celebrate. Then set a new goal. We grow as humans by striving for more. So push yourself by setting a new goal that gets you excited again.

Dog toys

Lack of progress can also come from too many dog toys. We play with one toy for a while; then we play with another one. But we never really make any progress because our attention is directed in too many directions.

Focus is crucial for bigg success. You only have so much time to push yourself forward. So pick a toy that will take you to bigg success and keep playing with it!

Doggy paddle

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We may be swimming in stuff; we’re disorganized. So all we can do is doggy paddle. Research has shown that the average American loses almost an hour a day due to disorganization. What could you accomplish with an extra hour every day?

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Dog eared

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Sometimes my students turn in a paper that is dog eared instead of stapled. They’ve just folded the top pages over together. It shows that they waited until the last minute. It makes a bad impression. Preparation leads to bigg success.

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Dog tricks

The final reason we may feel stuck on a plateau is that we lack knowledge or know-how. We need to learn some new tricks. That’s the thing about bigg success: we put everything we have into reaching our goal. Then we need to learn new things to get to the next level of success. It’s a never ending journey that makes life exciting. And it’s that excitement that propels you to bigg success!

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Thanks for checking in today. You made our day!

We talked a little bit about new tricks today. But we’ve heard that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Please join us next time when, doggone it, we’ll take on this saying.

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post by mioawee)