Taking the time to celebrate small wins is one of the best ways to stay motivated and focussed on your bigger goals. When was the last time you celebrated a small win of yours or someone else? If you can’t remember, don’t worry, you are not alone. Too often we are focussing on the bigger picture and we miss the joy of journey, and all its wonderful highlights along the way. It’s a trap we all seem to fall into at one time or another, especially when it feels like everyone around us is making significant progress and we feel further away from our end game.
So here’s the best tip…
Celebrate the small stuff!
You can call them stepping stones, or minor tasks, or even new perspectives.
But just make sure you acknowledge them.
This is especially important when you’re in a rough patch, if things aren’t going that great and you’re feeling overwhelmed with study and assessments. Find something small and significant that you accomplished. Give yourself a little pat on the back, say out loud….even if you are home alone. When we change our mindset to a more positive one we can accomplish anything.
Thomas Edison, the American business who invented the light bulb is a fine example.
It took almost 10,000 attempts to create the lightbulb- that’s a lot of failures before he had success.
His response to his many failures…”I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 that won’t work.”
It’s quite clear that he had a mindset and positive perspective that allowed him to celebrate those small steps and see them as achievements.
Here’s how you can celebrate small wins:
🙌🏼 Break Large Goals Down Into Smaller Goals.
Creating smaller achievable goals will allow you to see the progress more clearly. This will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed and slip into procrastination mode.
🙌🏼 Reward Yourself.
Having something to look forward trains your brain to be more motivated. Think about what you love doing most… going out for coffee, buying your favourite magazine, updating your music library.
🙌🏼 Don’t Pressure Yourself.
Be kind to yourself. Don’t create unrealistic deadlines or this can lead to potential failure. Be flexible and allow yourself the opportunity to have a win, this keeps the motivation and positivity levels up.
🙌🏼 Track Your Progress.
Write up your goals with little steps along the way. It’s pretty satisfying to be able to tick something off your list…a visual is a powerful thing.
🙌🏼 Change Your Perspective.
Stop looking too far into the future… that is sure fire way to heighten anxiety. Stay present and focus on what you can achieve today…right now in this moment.
Don’t forget to acknowledge your fellow students small wins too. It becomes infectious, so spread the positive vibes and enjoy all the spoils of celebrating small wins!