Progress Studies

For any change to take place – for a seed to become a tree or for a wheel to join with an axle – there is a journey to be made. A journey that involves a certain amount of time and a certain amount of intelligence.

Because of a journey, we can then enjoy what it produces. It could be fruits from the tree or as cars, instead of the then-alternative horses. A journey, or a change, if it happens in the desired direction, we call it Progress.

Elements

This change is caused by inputs that due to a Process, lead to Output. 

To investigate, understand and accelerate Progress, ask yourself: 

Cause: Why do the inputs undergo the process? What’s the driving force? What’s the source of the driving force? 

Deconstruction: What are the sub-processes within a Process? If one parent Process leads to sub-processes, what determines the speed and efficiency of the sub-processes? What are the main inputs & what are the influential inputs? 

Acceleration: How can the Process be accelerated? What determines the speed of any change? Can the Inputs be selected better? Can the Process be optimized? How much control do we have over selection and optimization? 

Measurement: How do I measure the factors in Input, Process, and Output? If a direct measurement is not possible, how do I measure the essence and effect?  

Sometimes, you might not go out looking for these questions. But as you pay more attention, the answers to these automatically reveal themselves. 

Disciplinarization

Various academic disciplines have covered these questions for various ends - creating new tools and technology, improving health and lifespan, enhancing human comfort, travel, and communication, organizing societies, and much more, but the segmentation has also led to most humans overlooking the mechanics of Progress.  

And that’s the first step to learning Progress. To get rid of the unconscious limitation of our thoughts to fall within a discipline. But taking a disciplinary attitude towards Progress will only allow you to see a limited view of it. To understand Progress, you must make yourself available to a wider and clear observation of anything that you pay attention to. Progress Studies can only happen if we look at creation in its fullness and in its bare rawness.

Intentional Progress vs Accidental Progress

Irrespective of whether the output is pointed inwards or outwards, by simply understanding the mechanics of Progress slightly better, you can become more efficient and precise in all that you create. 

Your creation could be a better version of yourself, an art piece, a product, a business, or a digital nation. The larger your vision, the more important it is, that your actions are effective. Otherwise, your speed, which would typically depend on the output of your actions, would be compromised to a large extent. What you could have achieved in months could take you a few years.  It’s time to switch from Accidental Progress to Intentional Progress.