The Physics of progress.

The road to success is paved with broken dreams

I followed common “growth advice” for years.

I showed up everyday.

I was relentlessly consistent.

I tried “adding value.”

I set smart goals.

I made zero progress.

It was deeply frustrating.

In fact, scratch that. I would go so far as to say I made negative progress.

I actually regressed. I grew resentful, bitter and cynical.

Here’s the thing that everyone seems to miss:

“Consistency” is not key. It’s the bare minimum.

“Keep Showing up” is like saying “keep going to work if you want to keep your job.”

I mean really?! You don’t say.

“Adding value” is so subjective it’s just not worth talking about.

All of the above is not advice or strategy. It’s cheap motivation.

Now don’t get me wrong.

I like a bit of motivation just like the next guy but the moment you mistake this for a path to success is the moment you kill those very chances of it.

When I stopped taking this as advice and started developing my own system for learning I started to make progress immediately.

I am talking about growth in general here.

Learning a foreign language, getting results in the gym, building deep relationships, growing an audience online - it all comes back to the fundamentals.

Growth is a direct result of following your own curiosity, developing theories, testing them out in the real world, making adjustments and iterating.

The first step towards growth is to find a way to enjoy the iterative process.

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Implementation

In the age of information obesity, filtering, discarding and rejecting is critical.

The first filtering mechanism that has been crucial for me is implementation.

But I don’t mean just“taking action.”

I mean running your ideas through the scientific method.

Developing a theory, implementing actions to test that theory out and reflecting on the results.

Adjust. Refine. Repeat. Succeed.

This is the “physics of progress”.

Whatever you are trying to learn - build a project.

Insert yourself into an environment where you can test that out in real time.

The science is clear on this.

We don’t learn through consumption, revision, repetition or memorisation.

We learn through testing.

This can be based on metrics, but it doesn’t have to be.

The next time you sit down to write ask yourself questions.

• Is it a struggle?

• Does it come easily?

• Why can I never find the time to write?

• Why is this stressing me out right now?

• What can I change to make this process easier?

Could you have taken notes beforehand, prepared your mind, changed your environment?

Could you have set yourself up for success?

These questions form the basis of your next action.

But that’s only part of it.

My growth really started to accelerate when I not only implemented but began to share what was working.

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I still remember the first time I tried to learn Mandarin Chinese.

Back then I was very much in hustle and grind mode.

I had this vision of starting some kind of import export business and thought learning Chinese was the first step towards that goal.

I sat down and memorised words religiously.

I wrote pages and pages of Chinese characters in an effort to brand them into my brain.

I studied it at university. No one else I knew was doing this.

It was always a surprise when people found out. I felt giddy. Like I was early to an unknown trend.

As I delved deeper into the language and culture of the country I got this buzz.

I felt like I was slowly starting to get a grasp of the language. It was amazing. Like I had unlocked a whole new world.

After a year of "studying," I landed in Shanghai and was really excited to put my skills to the test.

But implementation brought me crashing back down to reality.

The simple act of trying to give a taxi driver directions to my hotel ended in disaster.

We simply could not understand each other. It felt like I had been learning a completely different language.

I had to resort to gestures and hand signals.

Finally I found the hotel address in my documents and just pointed at it silently.

It was humiliating.

A year of intense study for nothing. And I vowed to never allow that to happen again.

The problem is: What you learn in the classroom, or in a masterclass or tutorial has very little relevance unless you actually test it out.

You have to experience it.

After this initial failure I learned more in the next three months through daily interactions than I had in the whole year of study at university.

This was when everything changed.

As I started to improve others noticed.

I was the one selected to talk to the taxi driver, to order at the restaurant, to book the train tickets. Others started to ask me how I learned and what my methods where.

I began to help, share and support my colleagues navigating the language. In essence I started to “teach” what I was learning in real time.

(full disclosure I have forgotten almost all my Chinese, because that is what happens when you do not use, practice or develop skills - you lose them).

Cognitive science supports the idea that active engagement is essential for meaningful learning.

The "learning pyramid" model states that people retain 10% of what they read and 20% of what they hear, but up to 75% of what they practice through implementation.

This happens because active learning engages multiple areas of the brain, reinforcing neural connections and improving recall.

In other words I was leveraging the “protégé effect” before it was a “thing.”

Now I have used this approach with my youtube channel and with this newsletter.

How to actually improve

1. Develop a note capture system

The first step is to capture and retain your thoughts. The act of taking notes is like preparing the soil for planting.

You first have to fertilise, and prepare the soil so that when the seeds are planted they sprout automatically without a huge amount of effort.

Another way of saying this is that note taking has been scientifically proven to improve retention. It takes you from passive into active learning which is the first and easiest step to take.

2. Build a project in real time

After learning a new concept, apply it immediately. If you’re studying a new language, use new vocabulary in a conversation.

If you’re learning to code, write a small program using the new techniques.

If you are learning to write and capture attention put into practice whatever you have learned on the topic.

This does not have to be built in public but it helps.

Receiving feedback is a critical step in the learning journey. Writing in your journal probably won’t help you to develop organic techniques which resonate capture and hold attention.

3. Develop a frame of reference - do NOT set goals

This is controversial. However I believe goal setting to be a sophisticated form of mental masturbation.

When you have no idea what you want to do setting a specific goal is the worst thing oyu can do.

Believe me I have done many goal setting workshops throughout my career.

If you just have a kind of vague sense of achieving something trying to set specific goals will ensure you never achieve anything.

What is far more helpful and what will ultimately shape your life trajectory is to develop a vision or frame of reference.

This is a personalised lense through which you view the world.

It’s based on core values, competencies and beliefs. It’s too big for the scope of this letter but just start by thinking about what you value.

What is important to you, what are must haves and no goes?

4. Test out theories in isolation

If you are trying to build an audience online then you want to develop theories about how to do this and test them out one by one.

The same goes for learning just about anything. If you start doing multiple things at the same time you will never know what’s working and what’s not working.

5. Teach Others

The final step which I already covered is to teach others. This will force you to go deeper and double check what you’re doing as you have that added level of pressure.

Explaining concepts to someone else forces you to organize your thoughts and identify gaps in your understanding.

Teaching isn’t just about helping others—it’s one of the most powerful ways to solidify your own knowledge.

Remember, the journey from knowledge to mastery isn’t just about what you know—it’s about what you do with what you know.

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Behind the scenes, I’m working on tools, systems and processes to help you build your writing rhythm, find your voice and grow your audience.

I’m learning and sharing as I go so this will be as fresh and cutting edge as it gets 😉.

Got ideas or feedback? Send me a message. I’d love to connect