Disclaimer: If you follow this as a prescription, you will get nowhere
Much that we do is evaluated through progress.
Does your bank account increase?
Can you run further than last year?
Are you going to be promoted?
Society at scale is also evaluated through progress.
Did the economy improve?
How many people voted?
Did violence decrease?
We even measure the smallest parts of life through the same lens.
How many hours did you sleep last night?
Did you drink enough water today?
How many steps did your watch record?
Even rest becomes a matter of progress. You don’t just rest — you “recover better.” You don’t simply sleep — you optimize your sleep. You don’t eat to eat — you track macros and chase improvements.
And progress is inherently a good thing. It really is.
The problem arises when progress becomes the ultimate goal.
When progress replaces arrival. When the act of moving forward itself is mistaken for the act of arriving somewhere meaningful.
This is quite contrary to what most self-help authors will tell you.
They might tell you to fix your habits and to get 1% better each day. They will hand you routines, blueprints, step-by-step systems. They will tell you to repeat, refine, and slowly climb the ladder.
But think about it for a moment.
You would never want to habit your way out of an apparent crisis. You would never gradually improve a hemorrhage. You would get it fixed as quickly as humanly possible. You would act decisively, urgently, without hesitation.
Yet, you accept slow and steady progress in your life. You treat it like wisdom. You think it’s the way to go about things. It makes you feel good and accomplished, because you can measure it. You can point to a chart and say you are slightly ahead of where you were last week.
But small gains are not the same as transformation. A better prison is still a prison. A slightly more comfortable lie is still a lie. A mask that fits better still hides your face.
What you fail to realize is that your life is a complete crisis.
Being anything but your true genuine self is a disaster. No slow trickle of progress will fix that. Gradually improving something that is so far removed from what it should be is a form of wasting time. It’s polishing a mask that should never have been worn in the first place. It’s strengthening the chains that hold you down.
You cannot build a life worth living by gradually improving a life that was never yours to begin with. You cannot inch your way into authenticity. At some point, you have to stop. You have to drop the game of constant improvement and ask yourself where you are actually going.
Because when progress becomes your god, a number of problems arise.
Many times progress leads to collapse. You march forward, you keep score, you celebrate small wins, only to discover years later that you have been progressing in the wrong direction. You find yourself on a path that leads to a dead end. And then you are forced to start over. All that progress, all that discipline, all those habits that made you feel so virtuous — wasted.
And wasted time is not a small thing. You don’t get to start over with a fresh slate. You start over older, more tired, more disillusioned. You start over with the weight of your past progress pressing down on you.
The illusion of progress keeps you stuck. It keeps you busy, motivated, disciplined, but not free.
Don’t take this and go in the complete other direction. Don’t fall into the trap of avoiding progress for the sake of avoiding progress. That’s no different from worshipping progress itself. It’s just another false god.
Keep your eyes on the destination you want to arrive at. Don’t lose sight of it in the noise of small steps and marginal gains. Don’t confuse moving for arriving.
Progress only matters if you arrive at the right place.
Otherwise, it is nothing more than distraction disguised as discipline.
Sincerely,
Milo Morrison