The Small Wins Matter

Chasing difficult goals is a great way to grow as a person. At the same time, there is great importance in celebrating the small wins along the journey.

Small wins can be anything and should serve the purpose of showing progress while also instilling a sense of accomplishment. Small wins act as the stepping stones to achieving the larger goals. Small wins can also be “easier” goals that you can mentally keep track of as a win. These wins act as positive feedback mechanisms in the face of adversity, motivating you to keep going. I am not against setting easy goals because I recognize what a feeling of success can do. I am against only using easy goals if there is no strain felt when trying to achieve them. The strain is where we grow, and the easy goals help us keep going.

I set annual goals, which I then track on a monthly and daily basis. Breaking down my annual goals into smaller time intervals serves as my personal set of “smaller” or “easier” goals to achieve. Having a system where progress is accurately tracked and achieved helps me stay driven to achieve the more difficult, annual goals. I also believe having this sort of system helps shape my perspective in the event I fail to achieve my annual goals. For example, if I fail to run 1,000 miles throughout the year, I will have failed my goal on a factual basis. However, if I run 800 miles, I can still frame it positively because those 800 miles would be more than double what I did in the year prior.

By setting hard goals, I am opening myself up to failure. In order not to be discouraged by the sight of failure, I look to the short-term successes. These short-term achievements then compound into success over the long run. If your goal is to lose 50 pounds over a year, celebrate losing 1 pound in a week, or go even more granular and celebrate only eating 1 serving of ice cream instead of 2. Small wins are everywhere and are the foundation for getting us closer to the mountaintop of where we want to be.

Celebrate them and continue.