Big goals are mostly a lot of medium goals that nobody else saw you finish.

The visible version of any achievement is the last step, which is why it looks like a leap. Underneath sits a long row of mid-sized finishes: the course completed, the money saved, the part learned, the draft rewritten, and nobody watched a single one. Because the middle has no audience it feels like nothing is happening, and that feeling is the main reason people stop. The work is not missing, the witnesses are.

Keep your own record of the medium finishes, even a line in your notes app each time one lands. On weeks when nothing seems to be moving, read it back.