The Best Way to Know if You Have Improved

“In order to move forward, you have to look back.”

- Matt Maher

Improvement is often not a sudden thing. It tends to happen slowly over time, with each step bringing you closer to mastery. We do tend to take these small steps towards improvement for granted. We hate getting things wrong and seeing the gaps in our progress whilst on our way.

Whilst learning to play the piano, I used to get frustrated with every scale and note I played out of position. It angered me that I could not get it the first time. Sometimes months would go past, and I was still struggling with the same problems. However, after a year or two, the errors were polished out of my playing.

The problem is most people do not enjoy the process of mastery. They do not want to do what it takes to get to the level of genius in whatever they are doing. Although the process is straightforward, it is not an easy journey to embark on.

When we get stuck and feel like we want to give up, it is not the desire to move forward that keeps us going. I have found that my greatest motivators often come from looking back on my progress. Due to seeing how far I have come, I seek to keep moving forward.