What a Spiral Staircase Can Teach Us About Progress
Progress doesn’t always feel like winning. Sometimes it looks like letting go of a plan that once felt essential, or watching something you believed in fall flat, and still finding a quiet okayness within yourself. Peace can come when we let go of the outcome and learning to be with what is.
The traditional way to measure progress is through straight lines, metrics, KPIs, etc. I think meaningful growth often looks more like a spiral staircase. You circle back to the same challenges, conversations, and doubts, but this time with more clarity and perspective. You know you’ve gone through this path before, and you trust yourself to get through it.
Growth in the Unlikely Places
This came up recently in a conversation with a friend who was feeling stuck at work. He was feeling underutilized and restless. We talked about what success might look like in ten years, and his answer surprised me: "That I’ve grown and learned stuff." Not necessarily a job or a different title, but growth. I offered that maybe this season of stuckness could be his biggest opportunity to redefine growth. What does growth mean to him? Is it about a corporate skill set, or his ability to handle adversity? Is it about growing his sphere of influence, or is it about accepting what he can and can’t control and choosing joy anyway?
This idea of growing within limits, of finding your way even when the path isn’t clear or fast, echoes across so many parts of life. Especially when it comes to how we engage with others.
Earning Trust, Speaking Truth
In work, activism, and relationships, we’re not owed buy-in, even if we’re right. People come along when they’re ready. Even if they never do, it doesn’t mean you failed. It means they’re not ready, and you still get to be at peace with where you stand.
Our job is to be honest about our values and intentions, not to manipulate or guilt others into alignment. That kind of overstepping might offer short-term satisfaction, but it tends to erode trust in the long run. The peace comes in letting go of the need to control the pace or outcome. That includes being willing to speak the whole truth, not just the polished or summarized version. Because when something’s left unsaid, people feel it. When they feel something's off, they often fill in the blanks with the worst-case scenario.
The Beauty of the Spiral
Maybe finding peace in the progress means accepting that we don’t always get the timing, the pace, or the outcome we hoped for. But we can still keep climbing the spiral one step at a time. With each loop, we grow a little steadier, a little wiser, a little more at peace with the imperfect, beautiful unfolding of it all.
An Invitation to Reflect
What spiral staircase are you on these days? How can you tell you’ve grown, even if the view looks familiar?