I’ve seen a lot of incremental process in my life. I’ll lose a little weight or I’ll be consistent with a training plan or a savings goal and then I’ll lose focus.

I pat myself on the back and congratulate myself on a job well done. And then I let my foot off the gas. Progress is not the end result. Progress is a step in the right direction, but there’s still a final goal.

Progress and consistency are fantastic, don’t get me wrong. They are incredible habits to build. But that’s the point – they have to be habits. They can’t just be a means to an end.

If I celebrate my successful diet by rewarding myself with food, that’s not actual success or progress. If I give myself a pat on the back for my great consistency in my training plan and then celebrate with a day off, I missed the whole point.

Progress is not about the outcome – it’s wonderful when we see results and are moving incrementally closer to a goal we’ve set. But the progress is in the process and the journey. It’s in the discipline you develop, the lifestyle adaptations you make and keep.

Being on good behavior, or staying on track, or however you describe it, are bandaid solutions. Your goal is a lifestyle change, not a quick fix. So “letting your foot off the gas” is an indication that your lifestyle hasn’t adjusted. You maybe addressed the issue for a short term solution, but you haven’t internalized the change. You haven’t found a way to live like this and maintain this pace.

Don’t lose focus. Don’t celebrate the incremental successes by backsliding into the behaviors you’re trying to change. But if you do, get back up and try again. Remind yourself every day why you are doing what you’re doing. Why you’re making the change you’re making. Why some progress isn’t enough and you need to go the whole way before you celebrate.

That’s real change. And that’s worth celebrating.