How to Tell If You’re Still Making Progress

Mark:00:01

My name's Mark, and you're listening to Head Straight. Hello, you lot, and welcome back. In this episode, we're gonna have a look at how do you know if you're still growing. Because there are times when change becomes really hard to notice. Now this is a moment that catches most people out.

Mark:00:33

It's when something happens that would have knocked you sideways before, and this time, it doesn't. You still feel annoyed. You still care, but the reaction doesn't take over. Maybe you cool off quicker. Maybe you don't say the thing that you would have said before.

Mark:00:49

Maybe you let it go without forcing yourself to. And because it doesn't feel dramatic, you barely register it. Now later, you might even think, well, nothing's really changed. But something did. This episode isn't about how confident you feel.

Mark:01:08

It's about the small differences you stop noticing once they start to feel normal. Because growing doesn't always feel like progress. Sometimes it feels like less happening. And that's what we're gonna look at now. So one thing that's important to understand is that you might be checking the wrong things.

Mark:01:31

Most people check growth by asking do I feel better? Now that works right at the beginning, but later on it stops being useful. Because growth doesn't move in straight lines and it doesn't keep announcing itself. If you only look for confidence or motivation or strong feelings or maybe clear wins, you'll miss what's actually changing, especially at this stage. That's why people often say I don't think I'm making progress anymore, while progress is quietly happening underneath.

Mark:02:05

Because it's important to understand what growth looks like later on in the process. Once change starts settling, growth shows up differently not louder, but much smaller. You might notice problems still happen, but they don't last as long. Or maybe you notice reactions sooner, or you recover faster after bad days, or maybe you don't spiral as far, or you don't make everything mean something. Now those are not exciting changes, but they're real nevertheless.

Mark:02:40

Growth at this stage isn't about never struggling. It's about struggling with less damage, and that matters more than most people realize. And the reason why it matters is because sometimes people can get stuck in the nothing happened trap. So let me tell you what this looks like. Something stressful happens and you handle it okay.

Mark:03:04

Not perfectly, but okay. And because there was no blow up, no fallout, no dramatic moment, your brain reaches the wrong conclusion. Your brain says, well, that didn't really count then. But sometimes nothing happening is the sign. The fact that the argument didn't escalate, or the mood didn't last all day, or the setback didn't knock you completely off course.

Mark:03:32

Well, this is progress. It just doesn't feel impressive. So you need to know what to compare instead. If you wanna know whether you're still growing, stop comparing today to how you want to be and start comparing today to how you used to handle things. Ask yourself simple questions.

Mark:03:54

Does this bother me less than it used to? Do I bounce back quicker? Do I notice myself sooner? Now you don't need to answer yes to all of them, but if you're able to answer even one of them with, yeah, a bit actually, well, this counts. Growth rarely shows up all at once.

Mark:04:17

It tends to spread out unevenly. Now growth isn't about feeling different all the time. If growth did always feel different, you'd be exhausted. At some point, change blends into who you are. It becomes how you respond, what you tolerate, where you pause and maybe what you don't chase anymore.

Mark:04:43

And when that happens, well you stop noticing it. The same way that you don't notice breathing until something's wrong. That doesn't mean growth stopped. It means it's settled. Now this is the mistake that slows people down.

Mark:05:01

A lot of people think, well, if I'm struggling, then I can't be growing. But those two things often happen at the same time. Struggle doesn't cancel progress. Upset doesn't erase learning. Bad days don't reset everything.

Mark:05:18

What matters is how long things last, how deeply they pull you in, and how quickly you come back. Now those are quiet changes, but they're really strong ones. And here's why this stage is easy to miss. This part of growth isn't exciting. It doesn't get praise.

Mark:05:40

It doesn't look impressive from the outside. And because of that, people often get bored here. They start thinking, is this it? But this stage is where things become stable, where change stops being forced, and where you stop trying so hard. If you quit now, you don't go backwards.

Mark:06:01

You just stop something that was about to feel normal. And as we bring this episode to a close, let's think about learning to spot quiet progress. If you're wondering whether you're still growing, the answer probably isn't hidden in how you feel. It's in what doesn't linger anymore, what you don't chase, what you don't say, and how quickly things pass. Growth gets quicker because it's working, and learning to recognize that is what keeps you steady when things aren't dramatic anymore.

Mark:06:39

In the next episode, we're gonna look at what happens when growth starts to feel tiring. When part of you wants to just stop bothering altogether. Because staying steady sometimes comes with its own kind of frustration. And that's where we're heading next. So are you up for it?

Mark:06:59

Of course, you are.