progress - Moving People to Action

Exceptional Results

“Sometimes all you need for exceptional results is average effort repeated for an above-average amount of time.”
James Clear

Consistency beats brilliance.

The 20 mile march.

Daily progress.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step… and you’ll reach it within a year if you go for 3 miles a day. I’ve been running 100kms every month for the last 4 years… and I’ve learnt a lot about consistency over this time. A few kms every 2-3 days and I’ll make it without undue suffering. A week off and it gets harder. 10 days off and it gets really hard. You don’t want to be coming into the last week of the month with much more than 30kms left to go.

Everything important in life takes time… and steady, daily progress

video from my first international trip during the Covid times

You only need to be productive 7 minutes a week to be a youtuber

Days vs Years

Our emotional experience of life can depend on the time horizon we choose to look at our lives.

If you look at the progress of your life each day, there are many wild swings.

If you look at the progress of your life over longer time horizons, the wild swings blur into the background and a more steady sense of progress emerges.

Which lens are you using to look at your projects? and your life?

When was the Last Time You Changed Your Opinion?

“Progress is impossible without change. Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”
George Bernhard Shaw

If you can’t change your mind, then you’re not using it.

Adaptability is important.

If you don’t change and update your world view based on new information and new perspectives, you are dangerous.

If you tend to fight to be “right”, you are dangerous… mostly to yourself and your future.

How to open up to change? Ask great questions: Read How to ask great questions? and 15 Great questions to ask your kids

Progress Requires Change

“Change does not mean progress, but progress requires change” Richard Hamming

Without change you will not have progress. What have you changed recently? If you have been doing something the same way for 10 years, maybe its time to test a different way. You might return, but it is only by making the change that you can know.

We are creatures of habit. We will repeat what we did, not because it is best, but because we did it before. Don’t let yourself slide into the laziness of doing everything the same way.

What long standing habitual behaviour will you test?

“The unexamined life is not worth living” Socrates

If you want more from Richard Hamming, try 13 Lessons for Success as a Scientist (and in Life)