Linear Progression

Life isn’t a path of directness. There are twists and turns. Continuations and retraces. Right turns followed by left turns until you come all the way back around. The uncertainty of life is what makes the path you follow so different from the path your neighbor follows. Finding success is almost never a straight path. There are bumps, bruises, setbacks, learnings, and deviations along the journey that will always make the path you walk more difficult than you initially anticipated. That is life. If you expect life to always give you a one-to-one answer for everything you do, without uncertainty or trials and tribulations appearing, you will be disappointed. Even with the extreme level of uncertainty life presents, there are countless examples where progression is extremely linear. It’s through linear progression that you find a lifeline to cling to as you play the game of life.

The classic mathematical example of linear progression is the slope formula. Slope is the steepness of a line and the formula is, slope (m) equals rise over run. The mathematical formula is m = (y₂ — y₁) / (x₂ — x₁) where y₁ and x₁ are the first point on a line and y₂ and x₂ are a second point on the line. Since a line has the same linear progression, any 2 points on the line will bring you the same slope. A slope of 1 means that for every unit you move horizontally, the line moves 1 unit vertically. It’s a one-to-one ratio. Perfectly linear.

Running is a real-life example that supports a particularly linear progression. It’s typical that runners who run 30 miles a week run a slower marathon than runners who run 40 miles a week. But runners who run 40 miles a week will typically run a slower marathon than those who run 50 miles a week. Runners who run 50 miles a week will typically run a slower marathon than those who run 60 miles a week. The linear progression here is the more miles you run, the faster you will be. The more time and effort you put in, the better you will be.

The same can be said about learning a musical instrument, studying for tests in school, writing, or learning a new skill. These activities all typically follow a linear idea that the more time and effort you spend, the better you will be than if you had spent less time.

Linear progression in life is exciting because you are essentially able to calculate the difference you will be able to see by increasing or decreasing your time and effort. If you prioritize what you want to do more, you will see better results. If you want to pull back, you will see yourself begin to regress. Life’s curve is almost never linear but if you can find activities that follow a linear progression, you will be able to effectively translate your time and effort into tangible results.