Other than the sloths who are wasting away their existence in

constant consumption,

or those stuck with indecision due to whatever way they are gripping onto themselves for,

the rest of the population lives and breathes - one word - Progress.

Progress is one of the many carrots dangled in their faces,

which they keep running and jumping towards,

but never seem to catch it.

But at least, it keeps them

satisfied

that they are

making progress.

And while I can empathize with their situation,

I cannot help but blurt out...

What a joke...

~~~

Let me start by revealing upfront,

instead of dangling the "truth behind what man calls progress" carrot until the very end...

Yes.

What you are living your days experiencing is not (true) Progress,

you live your days either "progressing", which is really inching forwards like a snail,

or chasing the promise of Progress.

And for those who are doing the latter,

I must break it to you, the promise will never come to fruition.

Do not believe me?

Because your company has grown in revenue by 10x over the past year?

or that the headcount of your company doubled in the past 6 months?

or that you finally found and fixed the bottleneck that was causing all kinds of hassle?

or that you have hired a new expert which will lead a new vertical for your business?

or that you are about to leverage a new discipline for your data-pipeline?

...

Or maybe you will just say "Why believe you !?" or "Who do you think you are !?"

To which I will say,

I do not care if anyone believes me.

Because "believe" is the first word I dumped years ago.

But I will say this...

Come back to this post after a year or 10,

and see if what is progressing today is still progressing then.

Or see what progress you would have to talk about then.

To any and all such "progress" which you swear by,

I will say simply -

THAT. IS. NOT. PROGRESS.

All that mankind today labels as "progress",

is simply them "going with the motion".

It is them making sure that "they are doing things right" so that,

they only continue to sell and grow.

It is them playing into the societal games of ...

"We want to be the top 3 so and so company in the province of XYZ..."

or "We want to be placed under Fortune 50 or Fortune what-have-you once again this year..."

or "We want to attract better quality investors for our round D, E, F ..."

or even "We want to blow up and become the next unicorn"

...

A.N.D O.F. C.O.U.R.S.E...

"We want to keep progressing the way we have done"

Oh, dear friend,

do you not See?

you are repeatedly axing yourself in the foot openly!

"We want to keep progressing the way we have done!"

^^ Do you not see?

You are stuck in a cycle of the only progress you have known.

And you are gripping on to it as if your life depends on it.

But without doubting it or bothering to wonder "what if?",

you are but extolling it as something coveted.

What if I told you this ...

By doing what you have done so far...

you have only exponentially limited your true potential.

Yes, dear friend.

To "progress" is to never bother with "What I am missing?"

To "progress" is to relentlessly undermine the hidden games and hidden gems.

To "progress" is to slowly see your child become just another boring adult.

To "progress" is to "play the same old game" that you know has lost its charm.

To "progress" is to intentionally ignore the real talent in your people.

To "progress" is to never truly, wholly, really, like-it-has-not-been-done-before, ...

... PROGRESS.

Thank you.