Fall in Love With the Journey: Why Measuring Progress Beats Chasing Yearly Goals
As the year comes to an end, a familiar pattern shows up for many people: panic, comparison, and self-judgment.
December has a way of making us measure everything we didn’t do, didn’t hit, or didn’t become—often ignoring how far we’ve actually come. This mindset quietly drains motivation and makes long-term success feel impossible.
What if the problem isn’t your effort or discipline—but how you’re measuring progress?
The End-of-Year Comparison Trap
At the start of every year, goals feel exciting. Vision is clear. Motivation is high.
By December, that same vision often becomes a weapon:
“I said I would do more.”
“I thought I’d be further.”
“I didn’t hit my biggest goals.”
This kind of comparison usually focuses on a single year in isolation, completely ignoring the reality that real success compounds over time, not months.
Progress Is Not Linear — And It Never Was
I’ve been trading for nearly 11 years.
The first half of that journey was:
Struggle
Trial and error
Progress followed by setbacks
Making money, then losing it
No visible momentum
The second half?
A snowball effect—growth that felt sudden, but was built on years of unseen work.
This is how most meaningful progress actually happens.
Why “Fall in Love With the Journey” Is More Than a Quote
People hear the phrase “fall in love with the journey” so often that it becomes background noise. But it’s one of the most misunderstood principles of long-term success.
Falling in love with the journey means:
Staying committed before results show up
Valuing consistency over speed
Measuring progress over time, not outcomes in isolation
If you only love the destination, you will quit long before you arrive.
A Better Measuring Stick: How Far You’ve Come
One of the most powerful mindset shifts you can make is this:
Stop measuring where you’re not — and start measuring how far you’ve come.
When you do this, motivation changes:
Gratitude replaces frustration
Confidence replaces self-doubt
Momentum replaces burnout
Progress becomes visible again.
The Power of Documentation
One of the reasons progress feels invisible is because most people don’t document it.
Journaling changed everything for me.
Looking back at entries from 2019 showed:
Clear uncertainty
Debt
Ambition without clarity
Early manifestations and goals that felt unrealistic at the time
Today, many of those goals have been exceeded—not because of overnight success, but because they were written, revisited, and worked toward consistently.
Documentation creates perspective.
Big Goals Are Not Failures If They Take Time
I didn’t hit every goal I set this year.
I didn’t make a million dollars in trading profits.
I didn’t buy every asset I planned to.
Some goals were overly ambitious.
But six-figure progress is not failure.
Unmet goals are not proof you’re behind—they’re proof you’re aiming forward.
Why This Applies Beyond Trading
This mindset isn’t just for traders.
It applies to:
Business
Fitness
Career growth
Creative pursuits
Personal development
The people who succeed are not the ones who move fastest—they’re the ones who stay in the game long enough for progress to compound.
Gratitude Fuels Momentum
Gratitude isn’t passive.
It’s strategic.
When you recognize progress:
You stay motivated
You trust the process
You keep showing up
Constant dissatisfaction, on the other hand, kills consistency.
A Simple Exercise to Reset Your Perspective
If you’re feeling discouraged as the year ends, do this:
Write down where you started
Write down where you are now
List everything you’ve learned
Acknowledge what didn’t work — without judgment
This reframes your journey from failure to foundation.
Final Thought
Success doesn’t come from obsessing over where you aren’t.
It comes from:
Consistency
Perspective
Gratitude
Loving the process enough to keep going
If you fall in love with the journey, the results eventually have no choice but to follow.
