When nothing seems to work…until it does
I got a pleasant surprise from my running watch: my VO2 max went from 41 → 43 in the past two months. It’s a tiny jump, but progress nevertheless.
In case you don’t know, VO2 max is a measure of how efficiently your body uses oxygen during exercise. It’s a snapshot of your cardiovascular fitness and an indicator of long-term health.
The moment I saw it, I did what any curious (and slightly obsessive) person would do. I went straight into my run history on my Garmin app.
I wanted to find the run.
→ The one that took me from 41 → 42.
→ And the one that took me from 42 → 43.
Was it the long run? The intervals? A faster pace? Better sleep? Less stress? Cooler weather? New shoes? Was there something I did differently that I could repeat…so I can dreamily push it to 44? 🤩
Eventually, I realized something that’s obvious, but we tend to miss it easily:
It wasn’t one run that did it.
It was all the runs that came before it…
Every run that didn’t feel special.
Every run that felt average.
Every run that felt too slow to count.
Every run that made me question if I was even improving at all.
It all accumulates.
James Clear calls this a phase transition. The work isn’t wasted. The effort isn’t wasted. It’s being stored. It’s quietly building, until one day the system shifts.
Like a stonecutter striking a rock.
The 101st blow cracks it. But it wasn’t the 101st blow that did all the work. It was the 100 before it.
It’s not the last run that raised my number. It’s the runs before it.
It’s not the last sentence that finishes a book. It’s every sentence that came before it.
This is the part most of us struggle with.
We live in the “yet.”
I’m eating healthier… but the numbers haven’t changed yet.
I’m strength training… but I don’t feel stronger yet.
I’m walking more… but the scale isn’t budging yet.
I’m studying the subject I struggle with… but the scores aren’t improving yet.
I’m building the business, customer by customer…but the numbers don’t look impressive yet.
I’m getting more readers…but the numbers aren’t much yet.
The “yet” can be discouraging.
It makes you feel like nothing is happening.
But the truth is, a lot is happening. It’s just happening underground. Quietly. Invisibly. Accumulating.
So if you’re putting in the effort and not seeing the slope change on your graph yet, don’t panic.
You’re not stuck. You’re storing progress.
Keep hammering the rock.
Your phase transition is coming.