I am not making progress! I feel stagnant and burnout! I want to switch my job! How should I progress in my life and career? You might have experienced such feelings at one or the other stage in your life. Every one of us aspires to be famous, rich and accomplished, but only some of us are really conscious of our progress and clear about what we really want to achieve in life. I remember I used to be ambitious about securing top positions in exams throughout my student life, spent hours with books to digest volumes of knowledge. I attained what I wanted and then started chasing promising career, quality living, another career boost, foreign visits, awards, medals and recognition. The chase is endless… now my progress is subject to my children’s achievement, their exam grades, career moves and social status. But I still ask myself am I really progressing? Yes I am getting old… doing fine in my personal and professional life. In future I might be able to build valuable assets, enjoy occasional vacations at my favorite resorts. I could even opt for social work, do some charity and deliver motivational lectures. People often ask the secret of individual progress and I quote the founder of philosophical Taoism, Lao Tzuthe. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” So what if that first step is a little painful. If you want to accomplish something, you might encounter two kinds of pain… the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Whenever you take that first step towards a goal, you often experience the pain of discipline. You have to work hard and sacrifice your comfortable routine as you single-mindedly pursue your dream. On the other hand, if you don’t go after your dreams, you might experience an even greater pain: the pain of staying stuck, which eventually turns into the pain of regret. Sydney J Harris once wrote, “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. French-born Spanish author Anaiis Nin once said, “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” The great thing about discipline is if you discipline yourself on daily basis, eventually something “magical” will happen. Without your realisation, one day the discipline will turn into desire. A runner who “makes” himself run on daily basis, one day gets up “wanting” to run. The same holds true for writing, public speaking, starting a new project or anything else. So let’s start that project, make that important call, do what you need to do to begin today. Here’s a guarantee that if you work through a little pain, you’ll see a sure progress.