The Power of Slow Growth (Day 15)

You spend hours crafting a post. You hit publish.

Then… silence.

No comments. No likes. Just the algorithm echoing back nothing.

It’s easy to feel like you’re doing something wrong.

Like maybe it’s not working.

Right now, I’m in a season like that — a period of slow growth.

I’m showing up every day. Writing. Posting. Filming.

And most of the time… it feels like no one’s watching.

But what if slow growth isn’t failure?

What if it’s exactly where I’m meant to be?

And what if the lessons I’m learning along the way, are more valuable that the result itself?

Nobodies Clapping for You

Six months ago, I started a personal blog where I began sharing thoughts and stories I’d never shared before.

Despite pouring everything into each post, only about 100 people read it.

A few months later, I began posting daily on X. I now have 50 followers. Engagement is minimal.

This month, I launched a brand new YouTube channel. I’m uploading every day. So far? 29 subscribers.

From the outside, it might look like I’m wasting my time. If I was trying to go viral, I’d be failing badly.

But that’s not why I’m doing this.

The Quiet Joy of Getting Better

I enjoy slow growth.

There’s something deeply satisfying about showing up every day, doing the work, and watching yourself get slightly better over time.

I’ve been here before.

When I was a teenager, I was a competitive middle-distance runner. My favourite event was the 1500m.

Each year, I’d set a target to shave 5–10 seconds off my personal best. That meant training 5 days a week, for an entire year, just to run one race 10 seconds faster.

Most years, I wouldn’t hit that target. I’d improve by 2 or 3 seconds. Sometimes, not at all.

But those seconds mattered. They were everything.

Plateaus, Persistence, and Personal Bests

In my mid-30s, I found the same thing with powerlifting.

I’d train 4 times a week, pushing myself to the edge, hoping to add 5kg to my deadlift over a 12-week block.

After an early breakthrough — from 200kg to 220kg — I plateaued.

Four training blocks in a row, I failed at 225kg.Everything was dialled in: my training, my recovery, my effort. But I wasn’t making progress.

At least, that’s how it felt.

Then one day, seemingly out of nowhere, I pulled 230kg.

It was one of the happiest moments of my training life — not because of the number, but because of what it represented.

It meant I hadn’t quit. It meant the work had been worth it.

Slow Growth Builds What Fast Growth Can’t

Here’s the truth:

If I’d hit that lift first try, it wouldn’t have felt the same.

There’s something powerful about having to fight for every improvement.

It builds something inside you.

Call it resilience. Call it grit.

Whatever it is — it doesn’t come from the wins. It comes from the plateaus, the doubts, the long stretches where you keep going without proof it’s working.

Final Reflection: What If This Is the Reward?

It’s easy to think slow growth is a delay. Something to tolerate until the “real” results show up.

But what if it’s not a delay at all?

What if this is the work that matters most?

What if slow growth isn’t a sign that you’re failing, but a sign that you’re building something worthwhile?

Rather than trying to rush to the finish line, slow growth shows that you are on the path.

That you are showing up, taking that next step, putting in that next rep.

It shows that you are the type of person who can put in the work without needing the rewards.

Maybe the big rewards will come later. Maybe they won't.

But either way, you can be proud of yourself for staying the course.

Adam