Image created by Google AI.

Progress isn’t a neat little upward arrow. Real growth is squiggly. It loops, backtracks, pauses—and sometimes feels like it stalls completely. But that mess? That’s where the magic happens. Unfortunately, we’ve been sold the myth that success is linear. When our journey doesn’t match that myth, we blame ourselves. Cue the shame. Cue the burnout.

Resilient leaders know better. They embrace the zigzag. They find wisdom in the detours.

Think back—when did something that felt like failure end up preparing you for something bigger? What did that moment teach you? Growth hides in the squiggle.

#Blogboost #ProgressNotPerfection #ResilienceInLeadership #NonlinearSuccess #KeepGoing #LeadershipGrowth #ActThePart #AdvantaStrategies #StrategicThinking

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2 Comments

Angie Vallejo on at

So true! I need to look more around corners and curves than trying to see a straight line. Thanks!
Alice Gerard on at

That is so true. I’ve made some paintings that have seemed like monumental disasters at the time. And then, I realized that the paintings weren’t quite so awful, even if I did feel that I failed. And I remembered that FAIL=First Attempt In Learning. Then I applied what I learned from the Monumental Mistake, and the next painting made me really happy.

Progress