Small Wins
We live in a world that is success driven. People just want to achieve as much success as possible and then compare their success to those around them. Sometimes this can be motivational and supportive, but often times it can leave people feeling like failures.
With modern communication people are always posting their biggest successes, and only their biggest successes. It can be easy to think that you are the only person you know that is not achieving something impressive.
The Olympics are one of my absolute favorite things. I think all the countries coming together in such a cool and festive way is just fun. And it is really awe inspiring to watch the best athletes in the world compete in their respective sports. But every time the Olympics roll around I also start to feel really un-accomplished in my life. According to my quick google search over 50% of the athletes competing are under 25 years of age. I like to think I’m pretty athletic, but by no means am I going to be competing in the Olympics in the next 5 years.
I think a lot of times we set our sights incredibly high. We see people like us winning gold medals in the Olympics, starring in movies, leading large companies, or starting inspiring non-profits, and think we need to set goals of the same caliber.
This can become unhealthy really, really quickly. Because even if you are fully capable of achieving these goals, sometimes it might take years to do so and all the while seems like you aren’t succeeding.
So I think we need to set small goals - and most importantly: celebrate our small wins!
Recently I have been impressively lazy. When you have class online and it doesn’t start until noon, it is really easy to stay up late and sleep until 11:55. So my new goal is to wake up by 10, and exercise for 10-20 minutes to get my blood flowing. And I’ve found that by consciously making that a goal, I feel great when I do it! Even though this is seriously not impressive, I celebrate it like an Olympic gold medal.
So that is my challenge to you this week: consciously make a small goal, or a few small goals. This can be anything you want, from an easy exercise, to making breakfast, or anything in between. And when you complete them - celebrate yourself! You deserve it! Just because bigger goals exist doesn’t mean that your small goal isn’t a success.
Stay Motivated,
-Dan
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