Small, compounding choices

The realization that we’ve improved in some area of life may happen in a moment, but the change itself has generally been a longtime coming: often the byproduct not of a few grandiose gestures, but many small choices made over time.

Perceived physical fitness is a timeless example of this. There is no obvious transition from feeling less fit to feeling more fit, yet by making the choice to exercise some number of times we eventually arrive at the realization that we feel better.

Understanding this can help attenuate the the feeling that we’re running up against a wall when, in fact, we’re just making progress at a slower rate than expected.

Instead of trying to assess day-to-day progress, consider that you won’t always be able to appreciate how far you’ve come until a longer time horizon: months, years, and rare cases decades.

All the while, and just as important to be mindful of, trust that every conscious choice you make today in the direction of becoming the type of person you want to be is incredibly valuable.

The goal of today, and tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, isn’t necessarily to feel like you’ve managed to move a mountain, but to consistently make choices that align with your goals and values.

Of course it’s also possible to blindly trust the process to our detriment. Indeed sometimes the answer is to choose a different approach.

But at least initially, when time and patience may very well be the main things required of us, it makes sense to trust the process and our choices.