This question has been rolling around in my mind recently. What is progress?
I’ve attended a couple of railroad prototype modeler (RPM) events this year, participated in several operating sessions, hosted operating sessions, and built a few models. I’ve been in many hobby conversations and listened to discussions. It’s obvious that we all define and measure progress differently.
In my home hobby space, I’ve built a few resin freight car kits and pushed a couple of larger projects forward. Each January I review my blog posts, photos, and notes of the previous year to tally the accomplishments. I review the completed projects, not the models or tasks left in limbo. It’s in my DNA. I’ve been taught over the years that my completed works are the barometer that measures success.
I recently attended the New England/Northeast Railroad Prototype Modeler meet. I shared a summary in my last blog post. Several display models were incomplete. Attendees at the learning stations were watching how weathering media is applied to models. In many instances, they applied the material on an unweathered freight car to experience how the different media works on the freight car models. Other hands-on sessions focused on hand laying track, ballasting track, and electronics soldering. The hands-on sessions were inspiring and offered a sense of accomplishment for the participants.
Over the years, I’ve measured progress by completing the big project. It might be finishing the benchwork, installing all the track, finalizing finish and weathering on a freight car, or getting a DCC decoder installed and working in a locomotive. I would push through these tasks focused on the finish line and success. Of course, there could be delays along the way and some tasks would be set aside to be completed later.
My recent thoughts have challenged how I define progress. Lately, I’ve found myself celebrating the small wins. It’s not about fully completing a project but about accomplishing a critical step.
It’s time to celebrate the small wins. We need to take a moment and enjoy the two locomotives that you finally speed matched, or the full brake system you installed in a freight car. Maybe you hand-laid a new spur on the layout or you fixed a stretch of track that had been a derailment zone. Maybe you finally got your spray booth running again.
All of these small wins keep our hobby efforts moving forward and they add up. Reaching that moment where you can operate a train through a town or add a completed freight car to your fleet can’t happen without finishing the smaller steps.
It’s time we celebrate our small wins as they are all part of the bigger picture.
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