The following statement is nothing new: Progress is slow. But we tend to forget it.
We want things to happen yesterday, see results, watch the rapid change take place. But it doesn’t happen.
Years ago, when the Beatles played the song, “Revolution,” the lyrics, screaming, pace and energy in the tune gave you the impression that revolution is possible: We can quickly change the world.
That’s somewhat true, but more often a distortion. The overthrow of a third world military dictatorship or the release of Elon Musk’s new electric car are revolutionary events, but they have evolved over time, or must further evolve after the specific event. Those are seminal events, no question, but for the full impact to be felt of the overthrow or the market release of Musk’s cars will take years to assess what the change means to society.
Two weekends ago, I was driving down to a basketball game at the University of Illinois. I was in the car with one of my brothers and my son, Kirby. I forget what we were talking about. Not really important at this point. It could have been about the surgery I had on my foot in late October to shave off bone spurs on my left heel, and how I was recuperating.
At some point in the discussion, I said, “Progress is slow.” My foot is not getting better as quickly as I thought it would. I knew that going in (to a large extent anyway), but still felt I should be further along in terms of healing now that it is January.
The last time I went to the foot doctor, he said I was ahead of anyone else he done the surgery on in terms of the timetable of getting back to normal. That astounded me, as I felt like I’ve been in a cast, then a foot boot, using crutches and scooter to get around forever. Since then, physical therapy, stretching and icing have followed on a daily repetitive basis and there is still swelling and pain involved at this point, more than I figured there would be.
But what the doctor said indicates how progress slow. Here I am ahead of the curve and I’m wanting the process to go faster, but it DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY! It’s worthwhile for all of us to heed that message: While we may think we can turn something around overnight, it’s not gonna happen.
When I was a basketball referee, I thought I could get to the big games fast. Not gonna happen. You had to train, work your way up over years, demonstrating success at different levels, to even move up to varsity high school, then big school varsity high school, then small college.
The federal tax overhaul seems to imply rapid change. Not gonna happen. Most of us won’t see a major change in our taxes.
Elon Musk is a visionary and he makes things happen. He’s changing the world more quickly than most, but it’s still taken him years to get his cars through production and in the hands of consumers. And he’s the exception, not the rule.
As the cliché goes, patience is a virtue. I still need to learn it. Progress is slow. Keep taking those incremental steps and good things will happen. I hope my limp is minimal by February 1.
We want things to happen yesterday, see results, watch the rapid change take place. But it doesn’t happen.
Years ago, when the Beatles played the song, “Revolution,” the lyrics, screaming, pace and energy in the tune gave you the impression that revolution is possible: We can quickly change the world.
That’s somewhat true, but more often a distortion. The overthrow of a third world military dictatorship or the release of Elon Musk’s new electric car are revolutionary events, but they have evolved over time, or must further evolve after the specific event. Those are seminal events, no question, but for the full impact to be felt of the overthrow or the market release of Musk’s cars will take years to assess what the change means to society.
Two weekends ago, I was driving down to a basketball game at the University of Illinois. I was in the car with one of my brothers and my son, Kirby. I forget what we were talking about. Not really important at this point. It could have been about the surgery I had on my foot in late October to shave off bone spurs on my left heel, and how I was recuperating.
At some point in the discussion, I said, “Progress is slow.” My foot is not getting better as quickly as I thought it would. I knew that going in (to a large extent anyway), but still felt I should be further along in terms of healing now that it is January.
The last time I went to the foot doctor, he said I was ahead of anyone else he done the surgery on in terms of the timetable of getting back to normal. That astounded me, as I felt like I’ve been in a cast, then a foot boot, using crutches and scooter to get around forever. Since then, physical therapy, stretching and icing have followed on a daily repetitive basis and there is still swelling and pain involved at this point, more than I figured there would be.
But what the doctor said indicates how progress slow. Here I am ahead of the curve and I’m wanting the process to go faster, but it DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY! It’s worthwhile for all of us to heed that message: While we may think we can turn something around overnight, it’s not gonna happen.
When I was a basketball referee, I thought I could get to the big games fast. Not gonna happen. You had to train, work your way up over years, demonstrating success at different levels, to even move up to varsity high school, then big school varsity high school, then small college.
The federal tax overhaul seems to imply rapid change. Not gonna happen. Most of us won’t see a major change in our taxes.
Elon Musk is a visionary and he makes things happen. He’s changing the world more quickly than most, but it’s still taken him years to get his cars through production and in the hands of consumers. And he’s the exception, not the rule.
As the cliché goes, patience is a virtue. I still need to learn it. Progress is slow. Keep taking those incremental steps and good things will happen. I hope my limp is minimal by February 1.
