Reaching milestones that you have set for yourself is no easy feat, which is why I think it is essential that we all learn how to celebrate small wins.
Drawbacks, failures and rejections often happen and can be extremely discouraging. I, for one, more often than not, tend to focus on the negatives and forget to give myself a pat on the back when I’ve accomplished something that I’ve set out to do. A small part of it is because I don’t want to brag… but a big part of it is because I’m my biggest critic and I think that whatever I do isn’t enough and I’m nowhere near where I want to be in life yet. The problem with that kind of thinking is that it’s negative. It’s not helpful. It’s exhausting and it’ll pretty much make you feel like a mouse on a treadmill with no end in sight.
Sometimes when I’m anxious and my head is buzzing, I jot down my to-do list and I go about my day or week to try and tick one by one off my list. Whenever one is ticked off, I always find myself feel a bit lighter and slightly better. But because life isn’t rainbows, more things get added to the list or I have to create a separate list for other things that are on my mind and that can be overwhelming.
For the betterment of my wellbeing, I’ve started to practice taking a break—not a long break to go on a 2-week sun vacation but more like a pause in my week where I take a breather to realign myself. Before, I used to focus solely on what went wrong and what can be improved. However, I recently realised that I was being too hard on myself. Now I know that I also need to check on what went right, what I’ve achieved and what are the things I’m grateful for daily in order to live a happier life.
I’ve learned that it’s important to celebrate small wins in order to keep yourself motivated. It’s good to have your end goal in sight but it’s also good to acknowledge progress in your journey.
A study that yielded 12,000 diary entries from 238 individuals found that small wins in work boosted people’s morale and increased motivation.
“Through exhaustive analysis of diaries kept by knowledge workers, we discovered the progress principle: Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work. And the more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run. Whether they are trying to solve a major scientific mystery or simply produce a high-quality product or service, everyday progress—even a small win—can make all the difference in how they feel and perform.”
Teresa Amabile & Steven J. Kramer, Harvard Business Review
When you give yourself a reward for your small wins or milestones, you’re then able to fully appreciate the work and sacrifice you put in to get there.
I myself am guilty of not giving myself enough credit. Sometimes I get too caught up in thinking about how many steps left I still need to take that I end up shaming myself into thinking that I’m just not good enough, because I haven’t reached my end goal yet or because I think I’ve got nothing to show as a marker of success and this makes me feel disillusioned. I’m learning to challenge this thinking.
Track your progress
I created this daily check-in printable worksheet as part of my self-therapy and made sure to include a header entitled ‘Positive Things’ so that I’m able to jot down things that went right or things that I’m grateful for. This is free for you to download so I hope it helps you in your wellbeing journey.
Pause & treat yourself
Take yourself out on a small date or get yourself something nice. I usually treat myself on lunch dates in a Japanese restaurant or a hip café with a new book/comic book.
If you’re feeling tired, schedule in a day where you do absolutely nothing. It’s up to you to decide on what reward you want to give yourself for your progress.
Positive Reinforcement
Write down your achievements. Dedicate a page in your journal that you can bookmark and list down your achievements here. When you’re feeling low or when you’re feeling demotivated, you can turn to this page and read how far you’ve come.
I hope this helps you. How do you celebrate your small wins? Let me know in the comments below.
This is so true for me. Thank you for reminding me. It is so important to step back and look at what you have done and appreciate yourself for it.