Yes, every bit of progress counts
- Kyle Snyder: Live on Purpose
- September 5, 2023
- 373
“Some give up on progress, never grasping the fact that slow progress is progress.” — Unknown
I run into people all the time who always focus on the big difficulties in their life, and they act like they have no hope at all. I mentioned something about progress to someone, and they almost acted like that was a dirty word. In a world where people demand action, it seems like there is little room for slow progress. It can feel like everything is all or nothing — we succeed or we fail. There is no room in the middle.
I hope most of my readers already have some way of keeping track of their progress, and this is just a friendly reminder to keep going. Unfortunately, not everybody thinks that way. I, as well as most people who read this column, know people who think black and white about everything. I learned in my experience very few things are that way. God, sin, life and death are black and white. However, the bigger part of life can be gray at times. We like the one-size-fits-all approach to life, but that is very unrealistic.
Let’s look at five baseball players who hit over 400 home runs in their careers. Only one hit fewer than 500, three hit over 600 and one came in with 696. All those men are on a top five of an all-time list. Most diehard baseball fans know that list is not the most home runs, although one of them is on the most home runs list also. These are the players who struck out the most times. You see there is a good reason for them to be on that list. Just look at the number of homers they had. You won’t hit every time you swing, but one way to not hit a home run is to not swing at all.
Looking back, I have to laugh because when I was learning how to drive and I would make a mistake, I would say, “I will never drive again.” One time at night on a back road, I barely missed a man walking on the side. I don’t think he had a good light with him, but I felt awful. After I professed my driving days where over, I got back behind the wheel. My mom kept telling me I was doing good, and we talked about my mistakes. I kept making progress, and I have been driving for 13 years. I am still making progress.
It is so important to look at the progress and not necessarily how far we have to go. I can’t begin to tell you how many people I know who gave up on a good idea simply because they didn’t think their progress mattered. We need to look at the progress, not what is in the way.
What would happen if we looked at the day we resolved to try and break a bad daily habit? If you want to stop smoking, look at the hours you resisted the temptation and not just at when you took a puff. Maybe you can’t quit cold turkey. If you smoked a pack a day, see if you can smoke all but one. Do that for a week and keep subtracting one cigarette a week. If eating too much is your bad habit, try not eating after a certain time in the evening. That may not work for everyone, but whatever you do, look at the progress and be amazed by the results.