Progress Is Still Progress - Even When It Looks Like Chaos

Growth isn’t always beautiful. Sometimes it’s gritty, awkward, and full of sleepless nights. It doesn’t always come with applause, more often, it shows up looking like survival mode. But whether you're leading a team, launching a business, restructuring a vision, or just trying to keep the lights on, you need to hear this: Progress is still progress. 

Growth Rarely Looks Graceful 

In the entrepreneurial world, we love to romanticize “success stories.” We highlight the end product, the ribbon-cutting, the award ceremony, the investor pitch that goes viral. What we don’t see are the nights people spent staring at spreadsheets wondering if they could pay their team. Or the moments they questioned if any of it was worth it. 

The truth is: business growth often looks like chaos. 

• It looks like firing and rehiring. 

• It looks like reinventing systems that once worked. 

• It looks like making payroll one day at a time. 

• It looks like sending out newsletters hoping someone — anyone — responds. 

But this is the soil real progress grows in. Even when it feels messy, uncertain, or backwards, you're still moving. You’re learning, adapting, and building muscle that no shortcut can provide. 

Madam C.J. Walker: Building While the World Said 'No' 

One of the greatest examples of turning chaos into progress is the story of Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove), widely recognized as America’s first self-made female millionaire, and a Black woman at that, born to formerly enslaved parents in 1867. 

Click to read Madam C.J. Walker’s story

After suffering hair loss, she began experimenting with homemade remedies and eventually

developed her own line of hair care products for Black women. At a time when society expected her to remain invisible, she built a national brand, employed thousands of women, and created educational and philanthropic opportunities in her community. 

She didn’t wait for the perfect moment, or for someone to open a door. As she once said:  “Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” 

Walker’s journey wasn’t easy. She dealt with fierce competition, gender and racial discrimination, and health problems. But she kept going, planting seeds even in the storm. 

Her story reminds us that greatness isn’t born from comfort. It’s built in the mess. 

Turbulence Doesn’t Mean You’re Off Track 

In today's world, leaders are navigating inflation, hiring challenges, software transitions, grant rejections, and staff burnout, sometimes all at once. It's easy to feel like you're failing when nothing looks polished or stable. But here's the truth: 

• A business in transition is still alive. 

• A leader in reflection is still growing. 

• A vision under revision is still valuable. 

Think of NASA’s early space missions. The first rocket launches weren't smooth, they often

exploded, veered off course, or lost connection mid-flight. But each test provided data. Each failure was logged. Each setback fueled the next breakthrough. 

Your business might feel like it’s in one of those “test phases” right now. That doesn’t mean it’s doomed, it means it’s real. 

Progress Isn’t Always Public — But It’s Always Powerful 

Let’s also talk about the emotional side of progress: imposter syndrome, fear of judgment, and invisible wins. 

You’re not alone if you’ve: 

• Made a decision that others didn’t understand, but you knew was necessary. 

• Turned down fast money to protect long-term values. 

• Showed up to work with anxiety in your chest and still got things done. 

  
  

These aren’t side notes, they’re signs of leadership. 

Click to read more

Look at Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia. He took a wildly unconventional route: refusing traditional advertising, donating profits to environmental causes, and ultimately giving away the entire company to fight climate change. Some called him reckless.

Others called him a visionary. 

He didn’t follow a clean script. He followed his values. And it worked. 

Small Seeds Grow in Storms Too 

In agriculture, there’s a practice called no-till farming, where instead of tearing up the soil, farmers let nature do its thing. Crops grow more slowly at first, but they yield deeper roots, better moisture retention, and healthier ecosystems. 

In business, slow and rooted growth often leads to longevity. 

So if you’re building something, a company, a movement, a clinic, a team, and it feels like it’s dragging or cracking or stretching… don’t panic. You’re in the no-till season. The kind that lasts. 

Final Reflection: Keep Planting 

This isn’t about pretending everything’s okay. It’s about seeing what’s still growing anyway. The people still showing up. The ideas still evolving. The mission still worth fighting for. 

Your progress might not look like someone else’s, but that doesn’t make it less real. 

So take the next step. Send the email. Rewrite the policy. Call the team meeting. Rework the spreadsheet. Cut what isn’t working. Protect what is. 

Because progress, even in pieces, is still progress. 

Sources & References 

• Madam C.J. Walker Biography – National Women’s History Museum 

• Yvon Chouinard Gives Away Patagonia – NYT 

• No-Till Farming: What It Is and Why It Works – USDA 

• NASA’s Early Rocket Launch Failures – Smithsonian Air & Space