Joshes and Joshettes, while I was recording Episode 99 of The Books By Josh Audio Immersion, something hit me that I didn’t fully process until I said it out loud. I’m about to reach 100 episodes on this show. On paper, that sounds like a milestone, something worth celebrating, but when I actually sat down and thought about it, this journey goes back to 2017. That’s nearly a decade of working on this podcast, and if I’m being honest with myself, I should have far more than 100 episodes by now. If I had stayed consistent the entire time, we would probably be somewhere in the 300 to 400 range. But I’m not, and that realization carries a different kind of weight.

There were periods where I showed up every week, where things felt like they were moving forward, and then there were stretches where everything slowed down or stopped completely. Life happens, work changes, mental health takes a hit, and sometimes the desire to create just isn’t there. I’ve talked about that before, especially when it comes to dealing with depression and how it affects my ability to create consistently. Looking back, it’s easy to focus on the gaps, to focus on what didn’t happen instead of what did. But while I was recording, I started to realize something that felt a little uncomfortable at first. Even with all that inconsistency, I might actually be closer than I think.

That idea is hard to accept because most of us measure progress against expectations instead of reality. We compare where we are now to where we thought we would be, and when those two things don’t line up, it feels like we’ve failed or fallen behind. Instead of seeing growth, we see distance. Instead of recognizing what has been built, we focus on what is missing. That mindset can make real progress feel invisible, and when progress feels invisible, it becomes easier to give up.

One of the examples I brought up in the episode was dividend investing, not as advice, but as a way to explain the concept. When you reinvest dividends, you’re buying small fractions of shares over time. At first, it feels insignificant. You’re getting cents, maybe a dollar or two, and it doesn’t feel like anything meaningful is happening. But those small amounts begin to stack, and over time they start compounding. Eventually, you look at it and realize that something that felt like nothing has turned into something real. That result only happens because of consistency, even when the progress doesn’t feel noticeable in the moment.

That same pattern shows up in almost everything we do. Whether it’s creating content, working out, learning a skill, or building something from the ground up, the early stages rarely feel rewarding. There is no immediate payoff, no clear signal that what you’re doing is working. Instead, there’s repetition, routine, and a lot of second guessing. I find myself refreshing analytics, checking numbers, wondering why growth isn’t happening faster, and questioning whether the effort is worth it. It’s easy to get caught in that loop because we want confirmation that we’re moving in the right direction.

At the same time, when I go back and listen to older episodes, I can clearly see the difference. The way I speak is more focused, the ideas are clearer, and there’s a level of confidence that wasn’t there before. The strange part is that I didn’t feel that improvement while it was happening. It didn’t feel like progress. It just felt like showing up, recording, and doing the work. That’s when it really clicked for me that progress doesn’t always feel like progress while you’re living through it.

It’s similar to going to the gym. You don’t see results after one session, and most of the time you don’t notice changes day to day. You show up, you put in the effort, and eventually something shifts. Maybe your clothes fit differently, maybe something that used to feel heavy doesn’t anymore, or maybe you just feel better overall. Those changes are the result of consistency, not a single moment of effort. The problem is that many people stop before they reach that point because it feels like nothing is happening.

There’s that image people always reference of two individuals digging for diamonds, where one stops just before reaching them and the other keeps going and finds them. It’s a simple concept, but it resonates because it reflects how we approach long term goals. We tend to stop when we don’t see immediate results, not realizing that something might already be building beneath the surface. It’s not guaranteed that everything will work out, but it is common for people to quit before their effort has a chance to compound into something meaningful.

As I get closer to recording Episode 100, I don’t really see it as a finish line or a moment where everything suddenly makes sense. I haven’t “made it” in the traditional sense, and I’m still figuring things out as I go. What it does represent, though, is proof that showing up matters, even when it’s inconsistent, even when it feels slow, and even when it doesn’t look the way you expected it to. There is value in continuing, even when the results aren’t obvious yet.

If you’re working on something right now and it feels like you’re not getting anywhere, it might be worth taking a step back and looking at it differently. Progress isn’t always loud or fast, and it rarely looks the way we imagine it will. Sometimes it’s quiet, gradual, and easy to miss. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It just means it hasn’t revealed itself yet.

You might be closer than you think. It just doesn’t feel like it.