The Connection Between Progress and Joy
This essay originally appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 3/21/22.
Last week I had a couple of wonderful experiences:
On Wednesday, I headed out for a quick after-work walk around 6 p.m. As I made my way to the lakefront, it dawned on me… it’s still light out! And not only was it still light out, but the weather was extremely mild and there were loads of people out-and-about. It felt like the whole city was out enjoying the evening daylight and warm weather. Such a marvelous sight! A few weeks ago, this experience wouldn’t have been possible because it would’ve been too dark and too cold.
I also went to a couple of indoor workout classes last week that were completely packed (first time that’s happened since early 2020!), and on Sunday, I ran in a race downtown among 20,000 (!) other participants.
Countless times during these experiences, I caught myself excitedly looking around and thinking wow, this just feels so normal.
Winter can feel isolating, made even more so by restrictions and other factors. As I reflected on it, the joy I felt from these experiences all had one thing in common: a feeling of progress.
Progress is something I’ve been thinking about after recently reading this article. It turns out, it may be more important than we think.
In fact, there’s a whole book dedicated to the importance of progress at work. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s titled The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer. What Amabile and Kramer found is that of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work.
They studied “inner work lives” (the mix of emotions, motivations, and perceptions over the course of a workday) of a large number of employees and found that when inner work life is categorized as good, people are more likely to pay attention to the work itself, become deeply engaged in their team’s project and hold fast to the goal of doing a great job. On the flipside, when inner work life is bad, people are more likely to get distracted and disengaged.
On the hunt for an answer to “what makes a good inner work life?,” Amabile and Kramer found that the most common event triggering a “best day” was any progress in the work by the individual or the team. Workers’ “best days” were characterized by progress, such as small wins, breakthroughs, forward movement on projects and goal completion. The most common event triggering a “worst day” was a setback.
Amabile and Kramer conclude that making headway on meaningful work brightens inner work life and boosts long-term performance. As they write, “Real progress triggers positive emotions like satisfaction, gladness, even joy.”
I think this idea of the progress principle is an interesting one, and one I want to think about more in terms of my work life. But I also think there’s a lesson here for our personal lives too.
In a work or school setting, it feels easier to envision how you could apply the progress principle. But what about in our day-to-day lives? It doesn’t feel as seamless to identify ways to measure progress, right?
All too often we get stuck in a rut where day-to-day, everything seems the same. But when you stop to think about it, we are making progress every day. If you take a moment to reflect on where you were or what things were like a year ago – or even a few months ago – it’s easier to see the progress that occurs as our days stack on top of each other. The distance of taking a step back provides perspective. It’s a good reminder.
Could finding ways to measure progress be the antidote to that listless feeling of every day feeling the same?
Maybe?
I’m not sure I’ve paid attention to measuring progress myself, but I’m encouraged to give it a shot. Thinking about it these past couple days, here’s a few ways I might approach:
Potential Ways to Measure Everyday Progress:
- Seasonal fun lists: I think this is definitely one of most fun ways to measure progress. This article provides a good summary, and is what inspired me last year to make one for summer and fall. This seasonal bucket list is a great way to slow down time, ensure specific memories are made and get that satisfactory feeling of crossing things off a list (something I think of as synonymous with progress!).
- Setting *specific* types of goals: Setting and working toward goals is a surefire way to feel like you’re making progress. But all too often, the pressure of balancing a bunch of goals can also feel overwhelming. Not fun! So instead, if a feeling of progress is what you are after, maybe it’s best to target goals that are inherently flexible and easy to work toward. For example, a monthly mileage goal that you can track toward on walks or run or a monthly book/reading time quota, providing you the autonomy to flex up or down on any one specific day. Just something to work toward that you know will make you feel good and is easy to keep track of as the days go by.
- Finding things to countdown to: I love a countdown. Such a tangible way to measure progress! Seeing the number of days count down to whatever thing you are excited about (a new season, a trip, a birthday, an event, etc.) is an easy reminder that each day lived is progress itself. I think the key to avoid living in a future-focused state of waiting for the countdown to reach zero is to ask yourself, when you get to whatever you are counting down to, how would you like to say you’ve spent your time? That question always helps me balance the excitement for the future, while also trying to live in the present.
What do you think? Could you see benefits from focusing on finding a sense of progress in your day-to-day life? How would you go about measuring it?
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