Being online, we’re all very very used to seeing people succeed. We’re used to people sharing their highlights and their achievements. We’re used to seeing the big wins, the beautiful houses, the fancy cars, the designer clothes. All these things that come from *hopefully* hard work, patience and determination.
It’s rare we see the “in-between” moments and that’s fine, each to their own. But today, I wanted to talk about slow progress. And why slow progress is good progress and should absolutely be celebrated, just as much as the huge professional and financial milestones.
Unless you’re a Kardashian or born into money, you don’t start out at the top. The vast majority of us have to work hard to get to where we are – or where we want to be if we’re not there yet.
Most of us will have worked hard at school or college, to get the grades to go to University. Then worked hard at University to get the degree to do the job that we want.
And even then, we’re probably starting that job at the very bottom, ready to work out way up. And even if you didn’t go to University – like me – then you’ll still have probably started in a low paid job when it was time to start work.
And I think this topic of slow progress applies to almost anything you do or want in life. Whether you work in a supermarket or an office, if your career is blogging, if your goal is to own your own flat or house.
Slow progress is what most of our lives entail. Unless you win the lottery.
So why aren’t we showing those moments of slow progress more?
I saw a post on Instagram the other day, which showed a girl’s flat. Previously, she had a mattress on the floor that she was sleeping on but she had earned enough money to buy herself a bed. She captioned it with “moving up!” or something along those lines.
That’s what’s called slow progress and I saw a ton of comments from people congratulating her, not only for her achievement of finally being able to buy herself a proper bed but also for sharing this small progress with the world.
It’s not embarrassing – it’s admirable.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have money. Some people do have to work harder for what they have. But wherever you fall on the wealth scale, slow progress is likely what you’ll experience.
I think it’s so important to talk about and show how normal this is, so here are 5 reasons why showing slow progress is good progress:
It’s normal
The first and most obvious point being, it’s normal. It’s so normal. It’s more normal than what you see online, especially with high paid influencers in their beautiful big houses and tons of designer clothes.
It’s more easy to track
If you have a goal that you’re working towards, slow and steady progress is much easier to track, so it’s much easier to see how you’re progressing towards your goal.
It’s encouraging
Seeing yourself progress, however slowly, is really encouraging. Whether that’s saving money, losing weight or trying to run a 10k. Tracking your slow progress can give you that boost you need to continue.
We shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves
We’re going to miss out on a lot of moments where we can celebrate our small wins if we’re only noticing the big progress we’ve made. There are so many smaller stops along the way that need celebrating too.
Slow progress means we’re more balanced
I think – at least for me – when we’re making slow progress, that means we’re more balanced in other areas of our life. We’re not JUST focusing on the thing we want to achieve. Although it’s an important part of our lives, so are the other areas of our lives.
I believe most of this comes down to two things:
- Pressure from social media
- Our mindset
Since sharing like, every aspect of our lives online became “the thing” to do, we’ve started to get more and more critical of ourselves and our own achievements. Started to pit ourselves against other people and compare ourselves like it’s going out of style.
Everyone has the right to share what they want on social media, including their huge wins, they’re massive achievements and incredible milestones. And so they should.
But as a viewer of social media, it’s our job to ensure that seeing other people’s achievements doesn’t allow us to diminish our own. Next time you’re feeling low because of this, you might want to consider these few pointers:
- Their achievements don’t make mine any less incredible
- Just because we don’t SEE their slow progress, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen
- If you’re feeling jealous, ask yourself why? If what they’ve achieved isn’t something you even want for yourself, why are you jealous?
- Nobody knows what’s going on behind closed doors or how someone got to where they have or what they’ve had to sacrifice along the way
The next time you begrudge yourself for making slow progress, for not progressing as fast as someone else, for feeling like you’re not celebrating (or celebrating) your achievements, remember what’s been said here.
Slow progress is good progress. Slow progress is NORMAL progress. And it’s just a relevant and worthy as those that seemingly fly to the top over-night.
Tell me a bit of slow progress that you’ve made recently and how you want to celebrate it in the comments below!
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