Progress, Not Perfection: How Skill Stacking and the Progress Principle Help You Grow (and Maybe Even Make Peace with Money)

GR
Jun 5
4 min read

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Somewhere between learning how to operate our first microwave and figuring out how to reset our Wi-Fi routers, we’ve become persons of a certain age who are still trying to figure ourselves out. Add in the desire to better manage our money, chase a few midlife dreams, and feel like we’re not just treading water—and suddenly we’re juggling emotional flashcards like: “Who am I?” “What do I want?” “Why did I walk into this room?”

Lately, I’ve been digging into tools that help us feel a bit more grounded in ourselves before we try to wrangle our bank accounts or reinvent the second half of life. Two ideas came up in a podcast that made me pause, scribble in the margins of my notebook, and think, Huh… this might actually help.

The Progress Principle and Skill Stacking, let’s unpack them together.

1. The Progress Principle: Tiny Wins, Big Shifts

What is it? The Progress Principle, coined by researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, is the idea that making small, consistent progress toward meaningful goals can boost our emotions, motivation, and performance. It’s less about hitting a home run every day and more about just getting to first base—and celebrating that you got on the field at all.

Why is it important? Because progress—no matter how modest—creates momentum. And momentum, especially in midlife, is powerful. When life starts to feel like an endless loop of laundry, bills, and wondering if your joints are creaking louder than usual, noticing and acknowledging forward movement is grounding.

Progress is proof that we’re not stuck. It quiets that voice that says, “You need to get your life together,” and replaces it with one that says, “Look at you go.”

How can it improve happiness, productivity, and day-to-day satisfaction? Here’s the magic: when you focus on progress instead of perfection, you feel more capable, more engaged, and more satisfied. You don’t have to “arrive” to feel good. You just have to notice that you’re not where you started.

Midlife tip? Keep a small notebook or note in your phone called “Things I Did Today That Count”. It could be anything from “Scheduled that mammogram” to “Finally opened that budgeting app” or “Didn’t lose it when my adult child asked for money again.” Progress is progress. (And if you need a cute, no-excuses kind of notebook to keep track of those wins? I just happen to know a little shop that sells one I think you’ll like😉. You can click the word notebook or the pic to peek at it!)

And hey—if you're looking for a ridiculously simple place to start? The podcast I listened to suggested reading just 10 pages a week. Not a chapter a day, not a whole book—ten pages. Which, let’s be honest, is about the time it takes to drink half a cup of lukewarm coffee while hiding from your family in the laundry room. But that tiny commitment? It creates motion. And motion creates progress. (And if the book is good enough, you might accidentally read more. Oops.)

2. Skill Stacking: You Already Have More Tools Than You Think

What is it? Skill stacking is the practice of intentionally (my friends and I have a love-hate relationship with the word intentionally, sorry if this is also a trigger word for you) combining multiple good-not-great skills to become highly effective or uniquely valuable. You don’t have to be the best at any one thing—you just need a blend of skills that, together, create something special.

Think of it as your personal recipe. You might not be a financial guru, a tech wizard, or a TED Talk speaker—but maybe you’re decent at communicating, creative under pressure, good with people, and you’ve learned how to use Canva on a Sunday afternoon with coffee and chaos in the background. That’s a stack.

Why is it important? Because midlife isn’t the end of our learning curve. It’s the perfect time to look at everything we’ve gathered—our past jobs, hobbies, conversations, stumbles, and side hustles—and realize we’ve been building a toolbox all along.

Skill stacking lets you see yourself not as someone who needs to start from scratch, but as someone already equipped with a mosaic of abilities that just need a fresh arrangement.

How can it improve happiness, productivity, and day-to-day satisfaction? When you recognize your skill stack, you stop waiting for permission or perfection. You start experimenting, trying, and yes—progressing. And you’re more likely to explore new income paths, creative outlets, or just feel better about your role in your family and your finances.

Suddenly, writing that blog, launching that Etsy shop, or managing your retirement plan doesn’t feel like a mystery. It feels like something you can do, in your own way.

In closing, yep closing, I kept this short and to the point for a reason. We don’t need to wait for a big life overhaul. We just need to give ourselves permission to notice what we’re building and how far we’ve come. That’s what these ideas—skill stacking and the progress principle—invite us into.

And for the record? Writing this blog post just landed in my own “Things I Did Today That Count” list.

What’s on yours?