Tactical Programming

Progress, Not Perfection

With thanks to Arnold, Adam, and Ketch for the pointers.

I recently finished The Foundation workout program in Arnold's Pump Club. This is a 90-day workout program with multiple workouts per week.

I finished it after ten months.

Injuries, sickness, work schedule, life events. There was always something slowing me down but I always got back to it once I had the time & ability. I'll let you in on another secret - I didn't do the full workout every single time. Sometimes I was strapped for time. Sometimes I had an injury or was sore from putting 100 bags of mulch down the day prior. It wasn't always perfect, but it was progress.

In parallel, I'm slowly (very slowly) learning how to play guitar. The first time I try a new song or technique, it sucks. It's wrong, the timing is off, it's just awful. But every time I make just the smallest gain. Even five minutes of focus is enough to make progress.

I'm a sales engineer. My first several customer calls were cringeworthy. Thankfully I had a lot of mentors and people generous enough to coach me on how to get better. I lisented, I changed, I got better. I continue to get better with each call by just changing one thing on my next engagement. What one thing can I improve/change? Do that next time. Rinse, repeat.

I'm never going to be perfect at any of these. And neither will you. You and I will never be perfect at anything. And that's okay. You don't want perfection. You just need to make progress. Over time (weeks, months, and years), those small incremental gains add up to enormous improvements.

Next time you suck, be kind to yourself and remember "Progress, not Perfection".

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