Slow and steady wins the race. This is a fact of life we are taught in grade school. Unfortunately, it is one that is easy to forget. Some goals and objectives seem too big for us to achieve them. However, we can use the approach of steady improvement to reach heights that seem unobtainable.
Steady Improvement and Momentum
The concept of momentum is one of the most important ones that come from steady improvement. Once we start to do even a little work on a task each week or day, it becomes easier to continue on that course. We are more likely to stay current on our progress mentally (as opposed to forgetting our place) and our time to get started back on the task will be shorter. Those regular mental switches to thinking about a new task become more natural and even familiar.
Habit Forming
Much like momentum, steady progress also helps build habits. We may not think of “work” on a task as a habit, but it is. Physical exercise is a well-known example of this. People that exercise every day or every other day turn that into a pattern. Their life and mental focus solidify around that schedule, and there are fewer obstacles to continue that path.
This concept is more applicable to business and technical tasks than I initially thought. I wonder if this is not one of the best ways to be productive overall. Putting in a little time towards a goal every day allows for plenty of time to mull over your approach in the back of your mind. It is almost a forced way to step away from problems on a regular basis to solve them. I also find that writer’s block situations are less likely to occur. Writing is a blatant example of this. I can consider what I want to write during the day and then I am ready to dive in for my short time on that task when I get to it.
In fact, some tasks become a form of reward by the time I get to them. I will have thoughts about the task that I want to apply so performing the task becomes cathartic. The steady improvement you choose can be in as little as minutes a day. Why not start this week and see how it works for you.
