WARNING: This post will make you powerful 🚨 Avoid The Progress Trap

Jan '23 (edited) in Other

EDIT: I turned this into a YouTube video: https://youtu.be/b0RffvCTXv8

WARNING:

This post will increase your ability to make your dreams become reality. This is a belief that helped me go from a procrastinator to financially free in just four years. In exchange for this increase in power, this belief may decrease your happiness. It did for me. If this is not an exchange you're willing to make, I suggest you don't read on. You have been warned.

Let me start by asking a couple questions:

Over the past year, have you made some progress towards your goals? Have you improved your life in some way?

Most will answer with yes.

Feels good, right?

You probably have this belief: "if I progress/practice/improve a little bit everyday, eventually I'll get what I want."

Makes logical sense, right?

But how long are you willing to wait?

5 years? 50 years?

What if 60 years go by. You're on your deathbed. You sit, patiently waiting to get what you want, knowing you have spent your whole life improving. When suddenly the sickening realisation hits you... You've ran out of time.

Here's the truth:

Progress is a Means to an End. It is something that needs to happen in order for you to get what you want. But in a human's desperation to get what they want, when they hear "if you keep making progress, you'll get what you want", they latch onto 'Progress'. What used to be a Means to an End becomes the new End. They forget about what they truly want, so at the end of the day, if they have made Progress, they feel satisfied. But they are left without what they want.

I see a few problems with this.

First, you may be making progress, but are you progressing enough to get what you want? Arnold wants to become a bodybuilder. Arnold goes to the gym. Arnold does one set of bench press. He has made progress. Feeling proud of his progress, Arnold leaves the gym. Progress has been made, but has ENOUGH been made?

Second, you may be making progress, but what if it's in the wrong areas? Jimmy wants to become the biggest YouTuber. He understands that better camera means better video. Jimmy spends months researching what's the best camera to use. Each day he makes progress towards figuring out the ultimate camera. He is making progress. But is he making progress in the very precise set of things he needs to be making progress on to reach his goal?

Third, progress tricks you into thinking you have time. The mind is addicted to time. It's always 'tomorrow' or 'some day' or 'eventually'. Being satisfied with "progress" causes urgency to disappear. What if you don't live to 80 like you're hoping? What if you die next year? Or tomorrow? To the person who truly wants something, they must have it now. Waiting longer than now causes such immense pain that they are driven to superhuman levels of productivity. The more masters I have met, the more I notice this pain. A "if you truly want something, abandon everyone, and everything. Go to the mountains. Do not return until dream becomes reality." The more time that a man believes he has, the more false luxuries he creates. He creates half-way houses to rest. He stops after 5% effort to recharge. The person who believes he has time is the one that's hardest hit when death presents itself. The wall they have leaned on their entire life suddenly crashes to the ground.

Imagine this:

You ear scrambled eggs every morning for breakfast. But one morning you open the cupboard (or are eggs kept in the fridge?). But you realise you've ran out of eggs. You need to drive to the shop. Do you think of ways you can improve you car? Maybe upgrade the tires? Do you drive 10 meters, celebrate at your progress, then think "I'll do the rest of the journey tomorrow. Time to relax?" No. You get in your car, you drive, and you keep going until you get to the shop.

It's difficult to stop caring about progress, but it feels SO GOOD to make progress. It's easy, nice, and comforting to say "I can rest now, I've improved/made progress/done my practice." But are really trying your best? Or are you using "progress" as your excuse? Is progress just an easy way out?

If you want desperately want to achieve something, stop caring about progress. Instead, do this:

1. Write down what you want.

Don't try to summarise what you want in one sentence. Instead, open a Google Doc, Notion Page, Apple Notes, or a journal. Write down "What do I want?" Then write out whatever comes to your mind. Write, then edit.

2. Ask yourself the magic question: "what do I need to do to guarantee I will get what I want?"

What do you have to do to make it unreasonable you won't get what you want? Again, brain dump. Then simplify.

3. Get to fucking work.

JUST GET THE JOB DONE. Ignore progress. Progress will happen. But it's a product of trying to do what needs to be done to get what you want. Don't focus on progress. Focus on doing what needs to be done.

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END POST

Warning 1: Reread intro paragraph.

Warning 2: This is a scary post to post. I'd love to hear your thoughts about it, please comment below. And also, remember this.

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