https://old.bill.dev/tags/thought/ Recent content in Thought on Bill Glover Hugo en-gb hello@bill.dev (Bill) hello@bill.dev (Bill) Sun, 28 Sep 2025 22:27:35 +0100 https://old.bill.dev/2024/05/11/what-is-progress/ Sat, 11 May 2024 08:32:10 +0100hello@bill.dev (Bill) https://old.bill.dev/2024/05/11/what-is-progress/ <p>I&rsquo;ve often found myself frustrated at the way we define progress or success.</p> <p>On the surface of it, the definition is pretty clear. According to the <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/progress">Cambridge Dictionary</a>, progress is &ldquo;movement to an improved or more developed state, or to a forward position&rdquo;. But which way is forward? Given two states, how do we decide which is more developed than the other?</p> <figure><img sizes="(min-width: 35em) 1200px, 100vw" srcset=' /2024/05/11/what-is-progress/image1_hu_feea9bb2e210a12f.png 500w , /2024/05/11/what-is-progress/image1_hu_f38cee2193831495.png 800w ' src="https://old.bill.dev/2024/05/11/what-is-progress/image1.png" /> </figure> <p>Given a starting point and a destination, the definition of progress feels fairly self-evident. If I am at home and I want to get to the office, then I make progress each time I move closer to my destination. Given the goal of being able to recognize 1,000 Chinese characters, then I have made progress if I recognize one new character. I have moved closer to my destination.</p>