Do you ever have one of those days (or weeks, or months, or years) where you feel really insignificant? That you haven’t achieved anything, let alone anything that anyone considers important or groundbreaking? That you’ve been standing still a little too long?

I do.

A few weeks ago one of our friends stayed over because it was late and he didn’t want to drive home. In the morning I was doing various things around the house before we left for the day, and then as we were going, I mentioned something about wanting to get out for a bit because I didn’t feel like I’d done anything. My friend was puzzled by this and said ‘But you’ve just done a load of washing up.’ I had. I’d done a load of washing up, laundry, tidied my bedroom, cleaned the bathroom sink and some other stuff, but I didn’t actually see it as doing anything. But I had, and given myself zero credit for it.

This is one of the few things that’s a consistent pattern everywhere in my life. It’s an endless list of things that need doing, rather than looking at what I’ve actually done, no matter how small that thing may be.

They say you need to practise something for 10,000 hours in order to be good at it.

This is what my cakes looked like five years ago:

This is what they look like now:

Lots of things have happened in the time between these two photos:

• I did a buttercream class.
• I bought a Kitchenaid mixer (still one of my all-time favourite purchases).
• I did a photography course.
• I got a better smartphone.
• I have made 9728189192722938299 more cupcakes.
• I researched buttercream recipes and methods.
• I bought good quality metal icing nozzles.

Aside from money, the main factor behind these things is motivation. The making of many cakes, the researching of how do to stuff, developing recipes, looking for ways to improve, getting feedback from people about what could be better.

The difference between the pictures is insane. Yet in my head, my cupcakes always looked like the second photo. It wasn’t until the first pic showed up in my Facebook memories recently that I remembered what they actually used to look like.

It’s really easy to think that you’re standing still when life is made up of lots of small moments and decisions that have a gradual impact. It’s really easy to compare yourself unfavourably to other people. It’s really easy to disregard things that aren’t huge life events and think that your life is boring or you aren’t getting anywhere. But even looking back at one photo can change all that.

Best of all, this works even if there are no photos. Just picking one hobby or one aspect of your life or living space and thinking about how you’ve changed it or improved it can be pretty eye-opening.

This month my focus will be on getting my head down and concentrating on my own stuff. Not comparing it with what other people have done, not trying to be the best at everything ever, but really making the most of those little steps forward and chaining plenty of them together. And I’m planning to take (and compare) many more photos too :)