Life’s Transitions

At first, I really thought motivation stemmed from huge accomplishments. I envisioned feeling super motivated whenever I hit a significant career benchmark, finished off a massive project, improved my financial situation, totally overhauled my health, or ultimately completed one of those long-held goals. However, there was a problem with this mindset – big achievements quite often require loads of time. Sometimes they take months, while others can take years. When I relied on motivation appearing primarily at the end of such efforts, I essentially asked myself to cover a very, very long distance indeed without ever seeing any tangible signs of progress along the way. Ultimately, I started noticing small wins – the everyday moments where I accomplished something practical, held true to my promises to myself, made just a bit more progress, or managed things somewhat better than I’d done previously. These moments weren’t particularly showy, yet they provided something extremely valuable indeed: actual proof that all my hard work was yielding noticeable movement.

This really changed how I perceive daily motivation. I now don’t believe one has to do something incredibly special each day so as to be considered highly successful. Some days, your ‘win’ could simply be finishing a workout, jotting down a single page, dialing an important number, tidying up that cluttered room, saving even a little cash, or simply resisting the urge to put off a task further. None of these activities would likely get anyone’s attention worldwide, but they hold value since they even further solidify the link between our exertion and actual progress.