A milestone is an important event or stage in a process, project, or life, showing that significant progress has been made. Originally, it was a stone marker placed beside a road to show distance traveled.
From ‘mile’ and ‘stone,’ literally a stone set up every mile along a road to mark distance. The word later took on a figurative meaning for major steps in progress.
The original milestone was a physical rock telling travelers how far they’d come; now we use it for invisible journeys like careers or learning. Thinking in milestones helps big, scary goals feel like a series of reachable steps.
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