“The outside world only sees the most dramatic event rather than all that preceded it. But you know that it’s the work you did long ago — when it seemed that you weren’t making any progress — that makes the jump today possible. Real change can take years — before it happens all at once.”
– James Clear
A few months ago I sent an email with the subject line, “Progress is Invisible.”
Many of you emailed me letting me know how much that message resonated with you.
And so I figured, how about a reminder?
I recently stumbled across this video which shows the progress gained from two years of working out consistently. What’s amazing about it is that you can’t see any progress from frame to frame — and yet, over the course of hundreds of frames, you start to see something develop.
The progress is invisible.
But it’s real.
If we looked only at the before and after photos of his fitness journey (as we often do), we might errantly assume that the progress was sudden or easy to notice.
Then we might look in our own mirror after a week of working out and wonder what we’re doing wrong.
We often mistake the imperceptibility of progress for a lack of progress.
But if you’re taking action over and over again, you’re growing. You might just not see the fruits of your labor yet.