How Do You Measure Progress? One Lily Pad at a Time
Recently, I recorded the entirety of my first online training program, LinkedIn: Beyond the Profile. I set up my camera carefully, I pulled up my powerpoint and I reviewed my notes. After I recorded each section, I did a little happy dance around my office. I had been procrastinating making this recording forever. Finally, I made a commitment to my coach, my accountability buddy Katrina and my husband. I was going to record it and move forward to put the training out in the world.
Except……
When I finished my last slide and attempted to do my final save, the computer went bonkers and I thought I had lost my training forever. The first thing I thought was: “Well, that was a big waste of time.”
But was it? If it was lost forever, didn’t I at least learn some things in the process? Didn’t I get over the major hurdle of doing the final recording and therefore, hopefully, could do it again? Was it frustrating that I lost the training? Yes. But was the time wasted? Probably not.
And this brings me to what I constantly encounter with my clients.
“What is progress and how do you measure it?”
Progress is an elusive yardstick and it is an important one. Often, when my clients fill me in on what they have been doing since our last session, it sounds to me like they are making progress. But they feel frustrated because they don’t consider it progress. They worry they are not doing enough. I wonder if we are in the same conversation. How could I see their progress so plainly and they don’t?
Sometimes you have to hop from lily pad to lily pad. Sometimes that is obvious steps forward, sometimes it is a step to the side and sometimes it may look like a step backwards. But each lily pad is progress.
How you measure your progress is important because it can affect your mood, your attitude, and your momentum. If you feel you are never doing enough, you can end up giving up or burning out. If you only value certain signs of progress, you can miss the beauty of what you have accomplished. If you need external validation of traditional signs of success to prove your worth, then you are abdicating your agency. You will feel disempowered.
Sometimes you need to be patient. Sometimes you need to trust the process. Sometimes you have to change your goal posts. Progress is energizing and inspiring. So give yourself the gift of noticing your progress even when it is not obvious.
How do you measure progress? Are you generous or stingy with your celebrations? How could you reframe something you have considered a waste of time as progress?
