In the formation of any habit, there’s a gap between what you expect to happen and what actually happens.
THE VALLEY OF DISAPPOINTMENT
The gap that exists when expectations and reality don't align James Clear calls The Valley of Disappointment.
In the initial and intermediate stages of any habit, there's frequently a Valley of Disappointment. You anticipate that progress will feel linear, and it’s frustrating to see how ineffective changes appear in the early days, weeks, and even months. It feels like you're not making any progress.
However, we must remember that all habits compound. There is a common thread in all compounding interest: the most powerful outcomes are delayed.
If you find yourself struggling to build a good habit or break a bad one, it is not because you have lost your ability to improve. It’s because you have not YET made it out of the Valley of Disappointment.
WHY IT MATTERS: This is one of the core reasons why it is so hard to build habits that last. People make a few small changes, fail to see a tangible result, and decide to stop.
WHAT PROGRESS IS REALLY LIKE
MELTING ICE: Imagine that you have an ice cube sitting on the table in front of you. The room is cold and you can see your breath. It is currently twenty-five degrees. Ever so slowly, the room begins to heat up. Twenty-six degrees. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. The ice cube is still sitting on the table in front of you. Twenty-nine degrees. Thirty. Thirty-one. Still, nothing has happened. Then, thirty-two degrees. The ice begins to melt.
A one-degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it, has unlocked a huge change.
Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change. This pattern shows up everywhere.
- Cancer spends 80 percent of its life undetectable, then takes over the body in months.
- Bamboo can barely be seen for the first five years as it builds extensive root systems underground before exploding ninety feet into the air within six weeks.
Similarly, habits often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance.
Don't abandon your investment in the valley of compounded efforts, or you'll miss the peaks of growth that await.
Your work was not wasted; it is just being stored.
All the action happens at thirty-two degrees.
more tomorrow,
Hunter