The Paradox of Progress

Productivity and personal development culture tells us that we should have big goals and pursue them continuously.

We praise people who are ambitious. We are a culture of strivers and hustlers.

“Work hard” and “always improve” are our cultural mantras.

And it feels good to make progress: to hit a new PR in the gym, to land a promotion, to score the next big deal.

Progress can be like a drug.

But there’s another side to this.

Progress isn’t always linear. Not every day in the gym will result in a PR. The workout doesn’t always feel good. The promotion may not bring the joy you expected.

What happens to our motivation and desire in those seasons when progress is elusive?

The constant striving for progress can become a prison.

When there’s only one path and you encounter a road block, you’re left with no path.

When we cling so tightly to our ambition, when we’re constantly hustling and striving, we don’t leave ourselves open to other possibilities.

We need to rewire beliefs about laziness.

It’s ok to be lazy sometimes, to take days off, to space out and do nothing. Not as a form of rest (which is important too), but purely for its own sake.

Ironically, it’s often when we release ourselves from the endless pursuit of progress that we find a new path toward something even greater than what we originally wanted.