The Messy and Beautiful Truth about Progress

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I’ve been thinking a lot about progress this year. I’ve noticed how difficult it can be to visualize what will culminate from all of the work you are doing now, when you’re knee deep the throws of the daily grind.

I find that the lack of control over the final outcome can sometimes generate resistance about putting in that work today. What if it doesn’t pay off? What if you do all of this work and your goal still doesn’t come to fruition.

Perhaps then this is exactly why your focus on process should be more important, while still knowing you’re moving in the right direction, rather than towards a precise outcome.

We’ve been blindsided by a global pandemic. In life, there’s always a chance that something unexpected will pop up in the middle of any road we’re travelling. I’ve come to accept that detours will happen, yet progress can still occur. The path you end up on may look different than what you initially envisioned, but I believe that if we can loosen our grip about the outcome we will find more presence and enjoyment in the process.

No one I know who is loving their life and their career got there without hard work. Often this was accompanied by deep personal introspection and learning about themselves throughout the process. These days you hear people on social media talking about how we “don’t have to work so hard.” I disagree. Call me old school, but I really believe that it takes time to master a craft (not a particular amount of hours however). Learning takes time and experience is a teacher. Hard work is something I expect. There’s a quote that says “hard work now, easy life later, easy life now, hard life later.” I love this and think there is truth to it.

I find it can help when you’re in the throws of hard work to remember a time when you were agitated, frustrated and worked hard and how ultimately this culminated into a satisfying feeling of growth and accomplishment.

As much as I’m a curious learner and I find learning is interesting and exciting, I also know that it can be mundane. Knowing that mundane tasks are part of the process helps, especially when days feel like a grind. Accept that you need to do the menial work sometimes. In my case that can be administrative work.

Don’t fool yourself that successful people never do mundane tasks! In fact most will tell you that it’s the accumulation of many simple every day tasks that add up to success. In particular a focus on essential tasks, those closely related to what brings you meaning and sense of fulfillment, not just a to do list that isn’t tied to your vision.

Social media can create an illusion that becoming successful is all bliss. But remember, we don’t see what others had to do to get where they are and what they’re continuing to do now to sustain and evolve that success.

There’s no magic formula to reaching goals. You create the magic by investing effort, believing in yourself, surrounding yourself with like minded people and your maintaining curiosity over time. Sometimes even then, your goals can change on route. You may even realize you need to make a sharp turn or you may even quit mid journey. Quitting isn’t always negative, sometimes it’s the right choice and there are better wiser alternative routes to where you’re trying to arrive.

Think about your trajectory as an athlete, in business or as a student. All of those things take consistency, include frustration, missteps and experimentation. Above all the process requires your willingness to wake up again and take another small step forward, even when you’ve been set back and a small step feels difficult. You need a ‘can do’ mindset with a willingness to learn along the way.

I’ve also come to realize that there’s no guarantee things will work out. Maybe shit hits the fan and your idea falls apart completely. Maybe everything comes together and is better than you ever imagined. Here’s the thing, without the hard work you’ll never know. If it doesn’t work out you may say “why did I bother,” but what if it does workout? That’s what you need to think about. If it all falls apart, time is never wasted. You will always learn something in the process. Sometimes those ‘failures’ are the exact situations that open your eyes to the process that will work. They’re the platform that catapults you forward or the stepping stones to the actual destination the universe has in mind for you.

Think about authors who are rejected over and over and over, until they’re not. You can’t deny those stories because they are everywhere. It’s the idea that we have to get back up. We have to surround ourselves with people who nudge us to take another step. Most of all, we have to find that will within ourselves, often driven by a deep meaning behind our pursuit. What keeps you up at night?

As 6 months have passed during this global pandemic and I think about imperfect progress, I’m inspired by the messiness. I’m marinating in the uncertainty, trusting that I have to do the work that makes me tick, talk to people who light me up and push me to learn, while continuing to learn about things that I believe will help me to help others.

Like many of you, I too have sat in a chair with my head in my hands balling, unsure of where all of my hard work will take me. But somewhere deep inside of me I trust the process. I’ve been knocked down by many waves but I get back up and I get on the board again. One day I know I will catch the wave and will start surfing. When I do, I’ll know the only reason I caught it was because of all the times I got back up and the resilience I built in the process, and how imperfect it all was. Likely exactly as it should be.

Check out my recent podcast with David Swain ( @swain ), CEO and co -founder of @prokit on navigating life changes for more insights on decision making and learning to understand yourself better! You can find it here: https://theprokit.com/posts/david-swain-how-to-career-change-growth-mindset/

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Anne Guzman

Sport scientist, sports nutritionist, content creator, former pro cyclist, life long learner. “Find a way to your dreams, even if it involves detours."
Running, Cycling, Triathlon, Track Cycling, Wrestling
Hamilton, ON

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