Hop on social media for a day and you’ll encounter a dozen productivity gurus and life coaches with all the right answers on how to improve your life.

On the more extreme side, they suggest that when you pick a habit you must stick with it at all costs. And make sure you’re held accountable. There are no excuses for failure.

Others have a more relaxed approach: Never skip more than one day.

This is far more palatable in the sense that it gives some wiggle room. If you aren’t feeling it for a day, that’s cool. Just don’t miss the next.

Unfortunately, life happens. And when you take these hard rules to heart, a minor failure can derail some people entirely.

A better approach, at least when it comes to long-term goals, is asking yourself a simple question:

“Are you doing it more than you aren’t?”

That’s it.

Did you run 4/7 days this week? If not why? Maybe you had an injury, or it was -40 degrees and you aren’t a masochist. If there’s a legitimate reason, zoom out.

Did you run more than half the days this month?

If you did, that’s awesome. If you didn’t, maybe it’s time to dig deeper and see what the underlying cause is and focus on changing that. Otherwise, keep at it.

Sure, critics will call this weakness. And yes, if you’re training to run 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states, you can’t afford to take a moment off.

But if you’re looking at long-term self-improvement, small gains compounded over time will always win over big gains lost because you gave up after “failing to stay on target.”

Unless you’re training for something incredibly challenging, give yourself some slack.

Do the things more often than not.

Progress is literally as simple as that.