Measure progress in inches not miles.

Knowing where you want to go starts with knowing where you are. But when you look too far down the road you can become discouraged that you haven’t made much progress.

Measure progress in the daily pursuit of “just a little bit better”. Don’t measure yourself against the flashy success story that seems to promise instantaneous results. Overnight “successes” are nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. If it seems too good to be true it probably is.

Here’s a better way.

Measure your success one step at a time, one task at a time. Don’t get ahead of yourself, if you’re not careful the journey can seem overwhelming and long. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Here’s the trick: keep your destination in mind, but don’t stay so focused on ending point that you neglect the small wins along the way. Don’t try to lift 500lbs the first time you walk into the gym. Prioritize the small gains that build to bigger successes.

Most overnight success stories are 20 years in the making. We see the finished product, but we rarely see the work in the dark. We aren’t there for the process. The painstaking movement forward; inch by inch, step by step, and day by day.

Perfection is the enemy of progress because perfection has a tendency towards stagnation while progress has a bias towards movement. Value progress over perfection and with enough time you’ll end up somewhere that resembles excellence.

Value progress over perfection by taking the small steps necessary to build a series of small successes each and every day. Add these successes up over time and you’ll find yourself in places you never thought possible. Progress over perfection is a commitment to the daily micro-behaviors that breed excellence. It means having the humility to commit yourself the fundamentals of progress. It is found in having the toughness to commit to the daily disciplines that produces long-term outcomes. Progress over perfection requires the toughness to absorb failure and move forward with resilience.

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Progress over Perfection

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