I was using an electric air pump to blow up an inflatable pool today and the sections that I needed to inflate were different sizes. Some were small and inflated really quickly. Others were so large that I wasn’t sure that they were inflating at all, because the initial evidence of progress was so hard to detect.
It reminded me of one time when I was swimming laps and felt like I was going nowhere as I stared at the roof, but when I looked at the lane ropes next to me, it was obvious I was moving along and making progress.
If you want to boil the ocean, then start with a swimming pool. And if you want to boil a swimming pool, then start with a kettle’s worth of water.
Progress deserves to be detected, felt, and appreciated.