12/16/2025
love this ♥️
Successive approximation is just a way of describing how growth usually looks when you slow down enough to notice it.
With dogs, it often starts by rewarding the smallest effort that points in the right direction. A look. A step. A try. Over time those small moments get a little cleaner, a little steadier, a little more confident.
People are not much different. Skills rarely show up fully formed. They take shape through repetition, patience, and adjustment. You try something. You learn from it. You refine it. Then you try again with a bit more awareness than last time.
Some days the progress is obvious. Other days it is quiet enough that it is easy to miss. But those small steps still count. They still stack. They still move things forward.
Whether you are working with a dog or working on yourself, growth usually comes from meeting the moment you are in and doing the next reasonable thing well.
Successive approximation is just a way of describing how growth usually looks when you slow down enough to notice it.
With dogs, it often starts by rewarding the smallest effort that points in the right direction. A look. A step. A try. Over time those small moments get a little cleaner, a little steadier, a little more confident.
People are not much different. Skills rarely show up fully formed. They take shape through repetition, patience, and adjustment. You try something. You learn from it. You refine it. Then you try again with a bit more awareness than last time.
Some days the progress is obvious. Other days it is quiet enough that it is easy to miss. But those small steps still count. They still stack. They still move things forward.
Whether you are working with a dog or working on yourself, growth usually comes from meeting the moment you are in and doing the next reasonable thing well.
