The subtlety of progress

It’s there for all to see

When you are trying to progress an idea to a product it is often difficult to step back and see what progress you’ve made, the subtlety of progress is often hard to see. There are so many tasks that need to be completed that making progress can be hard enough by itself, without getting a true feeling for how far you’ve come.

I was at a farm recently trialling my technology, more specifically, collecting a sensor that had been deployed there for testing. It had done well and achieved all it was meant to. Between the cows and the washdowns however, the sensor was in need of a serious clean which prompted me to send the team a comical picture of it on Slack.

I then recalled when the sensor could barely survive being knocked and would have likely been defeated by a gentle rain shower.

It was then that I realised how far I had come.

No longer was this something that I was developing by myself in the evenings and weekends in my living room, but a fully weatherproof, working, scalable piece of tech, with a team just a message away. The contrast was stark and something that I hadn’t viewed in quite that way before, bringing me to my point.

What lies ahead is obvious. It sits in todo lists, calendars, reminders, emails and notes, it is always on our minds and vies for our attention. Progress can be far more subtle. Each small task completed isn’t worth celebrating or confirmation of a job well done, it just silently adds up.

Look back and see how far you’ve come. It may be only a fraction of your total journey or you may be nearer to the end than you thought, the value in it though is the same. It’s proof that you can make it through the unknown even if others tell you otherwise and if you’ve made it this far, then there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to reach your destination, however far that may be.

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