Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer studied thousands of daily work diaries. Their central finding became known as the progress principle: making progress in meaningful work was strongly connected with positive inner work life.
This does not mean every checked box creates motivation. The work has to matter, and progress is only one part of a larger environment. But it explains why Steady keeps finished commitments connected to goals. “Outline the first section” is more than an isolated task when you can see that it moved “Submit the proposal.”
Small wins are also easier to overlook than large milestones. A project may remain unfinished for months while dozens of consequential steps disappear into memory.
Steady's Journey keeps those steps visible. The point is not to celebrate everything. It is to prevent real movement from becoming invisible simply because the larger goal is still open.