Making Peace With The Drip

Getting addicted to the results of seeing your progress compound isn't that bad of an idea when you look at it from a long-term perspective.

The droplets that trickle down from a faucet can eventually fill a huge bucket.

But oh boy, is it a mundane, slow, and torturous task to just watch that process unfold without trying to tweak either the faucet into bringing out bigger droplets and faster or taking the bucket away altogether before it gets filled to the brim.

The underlying assumption is that we believe we can shortcut the process, in that there's always a faster, more efficient way if we just tinker with the system enough.

Especially of the latter, I've found myself more guilty of it more than I'd like to admit.

The most recent one being my attempt to learn Chinese via Duolingo. Almost three months in, seeing slow improvements in grammar structure and sentence building, I convinced myself I needed a "better" learning method (to get to the next level) and switched to a completely different approach.

I don't know, it always disguises itself as impatience being the culprit here. But I believe there's more to this restless switching than that.

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Fear Of Ordinary

What I've realized is that we're not just impatient but also terrified of being ordinary. The drip-drip-drip of consistent progress feels too simple or rather a bit too commonplace and we rather want the dramatic breakthrough or exponential leap that makes for a good story.

The reality is compound progress is inherently boring in the middle. It's only exciting at the very beginning (when you're motivated) and at the end (when results are undeniable). The middle 80% is where most people play the bail card.

The Single Player vs. Co-op Dilemma

In matters of moving from point A to point Z, it is well known that time is of the essence, which also mostly revolves around you personally deciding to go alone or go together, if that option is available of course.

Ever since I've heard that life is a single player game with co-op modes/features, the going alone or going together dynamic has shifted more towards strategic solitude with intentional collaboration.

What I mean by that is the core work such as the daily/weekly habit building like skill development and the mental shifts happen in solitude, alone.

You can't outsource discipline or compound it just through group effort.

But you absolutely need others for accountability, added perspective, and those crucial moments when you want to abandon the bucket entirely, so to speak.

Say transitioning from isolation to seeking support when the progress seems too uncertain.

A Compound Addiction That Actually Works

The seemingly healthiest addiction I've subscribed to is tracking micro-progress daily/weekly. Not the big wins (those are too rare), tiny improvements are more common and tangible.

Day 79 of writing.
Week 12 of running.
Month 6 of meditation practice.

Micro-celebrations keep you engaged with the process and reduce much of the frustration with the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Asking Uncomfortable Questions

The aim isn't to eliminate the urge to tinker or switch, I don't even think that's possible but when I feel that familiar itch to abandon my current approach, I'll first have to really sit down and ask myself whether am I switching because this isn't working, or because it's working too slowly.

Have I given this enough time for compound effects to show up?
And what would happen if I committed to this for 3x longer than feels comfortable?

Of course, sometimes the answer is that you genuinely need to change course.

But more often than not, it's usually your brain trying to protect you from the boring vulnerability of sustained effort in an area where results aren't guaranteed.

Counter-Intuitive Truth

The people who seem to have "overnight success" usually have the most boring daily routines when we look closely.

They probably found their bucket early and just kept letting it fill, drip by drip, while everyone else was shopping for better buckets.

Also, there's something almost rebellious about committing to compound progress in a world obsessed with shortcuts. Like it's arguably the ultimate long-term thinking in a short-term world that operates on "quarterly results".


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