MOJO # 5: MAKING PROGRESS: How to know that you're moving forward when it doesn't seem like it

It’s tough to keep going when you're not seeing progress.

Sure you would if you knew it would eventually work.

But when you’re not seeing any sign of being on the right track, you start to wonder:

Is this simply a case of sticking through it a bit longer?

Or should you be trying something completely different?

How to measure progress without feedback:

There are 2 things to understand here:

Cause & Effect Time Lag
Missed Signals
—

Cause & Effect Time Lag:

The thing about cause and effect is that it’s not always immediate. And this can really mess with your head unless you understand and accept it.

Our minds expect an immediate effect after a cause, so when a cause has a delayed effect, it throws it off.

We understand it theoretically.

But in application? That's a different story

We’re so used to immediate feedback. Our brains were already hardwired for it, and modern day life doesn’t help. There is very little that you do today, that you don’t get near-immediate feedback for. That’s why even waiting a few extra days for a delivery has become unfathomable.

But when it comes to bigger goals there will be a time gap between cause and effect.

You can see this for yourself. Look at your life today and the results you have. Most of them came - not from what you did yesterday or last week - but from what you have done months and years ago. Even from what happened before you and your parents were born.

“Constant dripping hollows out a stone.” — Lucretius

We could see water on the stone, but we couldn’t see any sign that it’s cutting through it.

So how do you measure progress in such cases?

How do you know you are going in the right direction?

2) Missed Signals:

Before we see signs of progress, there are subtle indicators of growth that we often miss. For example, you might publish content daily without any measurable growth in your audience. So you start to wonder if it's working.

The best way to know, is to measure progress is to assess yourself for personal growth, including things like:

- Gained knowledge/skill

- Emotional strength

- Spiritual growth

- Any form of personal progress towards a higher version of yourself.

This is because growth happens in the state of being first, before we can see results in the outer world.

Unless we are taking shortcuts, of course. In which case our results will not be permanent anyway.

So ask yourself: Are you growing? Is your skill set growing? Are you becoming a better, higher version of yourself?

If the answer is yes, then you are going in the right direction.

Because in the end, the whole point is for you to grow into your higher self.

The successful result was just the incentive.