The Spiral, Not the Circle
I was flipping through an old journal entry from a year ago, and I found a short list of goals: sell the condo, clear out the stuff clogging the gallery, get a new place to live, and invest in my business so it could scale without burning me out.
What hit me was that these were almost exactly the same goals I had established in my mind just a few weeks ago. At first, I felt that sinking sense of déjà vu, like I’ve been going in circles, chasing the same things and failing to move forward.
But then I caught myself. The truth is, I’m not in the same place I was a year ago. This time, I’ve already taken some steps: the condo is on the market, I’ve started clearing things out, and I’m moving toward investments that could actually shift how I run my business. The goals may look the same on paper, but I’m better equipped now to achieve them.
That’s the thing about growth: it’s not a straight line. It loops. It doubles back. But if you zoom out, it’s not a circle. It’s a spiral. Each time you return to the same “spot,” you’re at a slightly higher vantage point. You’ve got more experience, more tools, more perspective.
Progress doesn’t always look like new goals. Sometimes it looks like revisiting the same goals with new strength.