The title is a quote from a favoured movie of mine, The Equalizer. It stars Denzel Washington who plays the protagonist, a retired secret agent/assassin who seeks vengeance for harm brought against an innocent. At some point in the movie, he’s helping a fellow co-worker get into shape in order to become a security guard, and he states, “Progress, not perfection.” The quote has stuck with me since I watched the movie, and I use it often in my daily life. Wisdom from unlikely sources, right?
A couple of weeks ago, I started using a newly-purchased punching bag in my garage. As an ending to the workout, I also started hammering out a fast, 1-kilometre sprint on the bike. It’s been rough, with most of my sprints ending with me gasping for dear life and being unable to catch my breath for several minutes. It’s a fantastic measure of progress, as opposed to cycling for 10 kilometres or more, where I potentially get exhausted after the third or fourth kilometre.
A few days ago, I hammered out a kilometre in just 3:02. My best time prior to that was a dozen seconds short of 4:00 minutes. Although this doesn’t seem like a big deal, the number of seconds shaved serves to tell me how far I’ve been progressing and how much faster I’m becoming. Hopefully, once summer kicks into high gear, I can reach last year’s failed goal of 200 kilometres in a single run. Last year, I was reaching nearly 80 kilometres in one afternoon, which is still a far cry from 200. but as the title says, progress, not perfection.
As you can see, my pace reads as 3:02/km, which is why I say I completed the kilometre in 3:02 instead of the 3:18 that’s displayed in the previous photo. The previous photo is the total time for the 1.09 kilometres. I’m hoping to shave it down to below the 3:00 minute mark before starting longer journeys throughout the summer.
Persistence and perseverance can serve you well, in all things related to self-development. If you’re willing to push yourself a bit, you can climb, ever so slowly. Progress, not perfection. Its the only way to increase one’s health, skills and well-being. ☯
The Blogging Buddhist 