1 Comes Before 2

Transformation is incremental. You can decide to change in two seconds. You can begin taking the actions necessary to begin your transformation. But that transformation isn’t going to happen overnight. If you want success today, you needed to start some time ago. Likely years ago.

Progress doesn’t come fast. It takes more time than you wish it would to start getting results. Much of the time, it feels like nothing is happening at all. Even though you have changed what you believe and changed your behaviors, the results are slow coming.

You don’t notice the changes. You don’t recognize the distance you’re covering because it is small. Almost imperceptible. It is there, nonetheless. And it is accumulating. You are making forward progress, even though you aren’t moving as fast as you would like to.

One comes before two. Two comes before three. Three comes long before twenty-seven. And twenty-seven comes before two hundred eleven.

You can’t transform by jumping straight to two-hundred eleven. You have to start at one. Everyone starts at one. You pass through two before you get to three. You won’t notice these small changes. Even though it doesn’t matter, other people will start noticing the transformation. They’ll comment on the differences, even though to you they are infinitesimal—and maybe even disappointing.

Transformation is a process. It’s through the process that you achieve the transformation, even if you live in a culture that tells you that you should instantly have whatever it is you want simply because you want it. The more you honor the process, passing through the smallest of improvements on your way to transformation, you will achieve it. Eventually. Just not today.

Today you are at 1. Take one step forward tomorrow, and you will be at number 2.