How Do You Know You’re Making Progress?

Throughout my time on Medium, I’ve written a lot about creativity, connection, and self-growth. I’ve been writing about it and you’ve been reading it (and hopefully finding value).

The things I write about are almost always lessons I’m learning in real time. But after I hit publish and after you move onto to the next article, how do we know that the lessons are sinking in?

How do we know that we’re actually making progress in the areas of life we’re exploring?

Because it’s easy to feel enlightened when we meditate early in the morning when everything is calm and we’re sitting on a soft pillow. It’s easy to feel like we’re the best version of ourselves when everything is going our way. When we write something clever or meaningful that collects shares and likes, it’s only natural to feel “creative.”

It isn’t wrong to feel this way and we should be grateful for those moments when they come.

However, the real test to all this — the reason we’re practicing and reading these lessons — is to be prepared for when we need them most.

When you’re stuck in traffic and someone cuts you off, is your meditation practice nearby?

When you discover you’ve been betrayed, or are treated unfairly, are you able to see things from a different point of view?

When your body breaks down and everything feels hopeless, is your personal development tool kit ready to keep you at an even keel?

I’m reminded of a line I wrote in one of my first articles:

“Being creative means looking at something that has gone horribly wrong and being able to ask and answer, ‘How can I turn this into a positive? How can I take this problem and turn it into something even better than it was before?”

It will always be easy to practice the habits of self-growth in a vacuum — when all is right in our world. But it’s in the moments of doubt, pain, and frustration that we must be able to pull from what we’ve learned.

If not then, then what’s the point?

Even as the author of so many articles and emails dissecting these tools and mindsets, I often struggle walking the walk when it matters most. I lose my cool when others are relying on me to keep it. I forget the lessons I write about when hope shatters. I trade in my focus for quick, distractions.

It’s a long road and a difficult process. But what keeps me going is knowing that no matter how far off the track I get, I always have the chance to realign and get back to doing the work.

When we do the work, progress will come. It’s not always linear. Yet, it’s always there waiting for us when we need it. We just have to recognize the moments when we need it most and have the discipline to step up and step into our knowledge.

Next time life throws you a curve ball of adversity I hope you can use the lessons we’ve explored here to not only take the edge off but to thrive in the face of it.

Because that’s what real progress is all about.