Progress and Motivation
SEEING NO PROGRESS KILLS MOTIVATION (or I would rather say “Not seeing the progress kills motivation 😉)⠀
It always starts very nice. You sign up for a gym, or yoga classes, or a dance course. Big enthusiasm. Good intentions. But after just a few weeks or months this little sneaky thought comes to your mind:⠀
“I don’t see any progress…”⠀
And often it kills the drive, and you stop the action. Or you keep dragging the action, but without any enthusiasm. 😭 Sounds familiar?⠀
But it doesn’t even mean that the progress isn’t actually there. In 99% you simply don’t see it.⠀
This is so human: we do an action, and we want to see an immediate MEGGA result. We’ve all been there. You. Me. Your dance friend. That random girl at a coffee shop.⠀
💁♀️I’ve definitely been in this situation, and far more than just once. But eventually I accepted two simple concepts:⠀
IT’S ALL ABOUT POSTPONED REWARD⠀
and⠀
PROGRESS IS CUMULATIVE ⠀
I often tell members of the Iana Dance Club a story about a stone-worker.⠀
He hits a stone with his pick. Nothing happens. He repeats. Nothing again. He keeps going. Five, ten hits. People around start making fun of him. Why would he do it? But he just keeps going. 20, 50, 70 times. Stone doesn’t even have a scratch. 99… Then he hits for the 100th time, and the stone suddenly breaks into two pieces. Goal achieved.⠀
Was it that magical 100th hit? 🤷♀️No. Of course, not. It would never work without those previous 99 strokes that changed something inside that stone. The stone-worker HAD to do those 99 ‘useless’ hits because progress is accumulative, and reward is often postponed.😉⠀
Same with your dance practice: if you SHOW UP AND DO THE WORK, progress⠀does happen. Even if you don’t see it with your eyes... Yet. 😉😘❤️⠀
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Choreo tutorial for the dance is available inside the Iana Dance Club
Song in the video: Esmaooni
Recorded at Yasmina’s B&B for belly dancers
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About Iana
Iana Komarnytska is a professional dancer, teacher, choreographer, and passionate content creator helping dancers navigate their dance lives.
She is a graduate from the professional dance program at York University (Canada), host of the Belly Dance Life podcast, creator of the Iana Dance Club, author of numerous articles, and winner of Star Bellydancer Canada 2014 among other international competitions.
Along with belly dance, Iana performs and teaches Persian Classical and Turkish Romani dancing. She is the first choreographer to start using Triple Isis wings, and since 2012 this is one of her style signatures.
I see it over and over again that dancers who barely had any experience want to crowd their improvisation with hundreds of movements that at the end of the day, don’t even fit the music.