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Success = Celebrating the Little Victories

Be Patient with Yourself.

By Jordan ZiembaPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Success = Celebrating the Little Victories
Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

If you're like me, you're hard on yourself about everything. You feel like the world depends on you, and that it's completely your fault if you make the smallest mistake. I have listened to countless podcasts on how to remain motivated, build and maintain healthy relationships, and how to allow yourself some failures. You name it, I've listened to it.

And let's be real: a life where you saunter down to the beach to do yoga as the sun rises, maintain a spotless household, or successfully complete a green juice cleanse, is completely unrealistic. Do you have kids? A job? A social calendar? If you answered "yes" to any of these, I've got some advice for you: give it up now.

I still continued to struggle with the temptation to put the weight of others' burdens on my shoulders, as well as practically killing myself trying to build the "perfect" life.

  • "If I don't do it, it will never get done."
  • "I shouldn't be so selfish."
  • "It's important that I help this person, even if I am sacrificing valuable school or work time to help them."

We can tell ourselves things like this all the time in our heads. In your mind, it probably looks like this: failure = not allowed. Period. Okay, so how do you begin to give yourself some grace, and realize that if at first you don't succeed, second chances are not something to be ashamed of? Like most things, you have to start small.

A lot of motivational speakers and self-help books will give you long, drawn out, elaborate ways in which to allow yourself to fail. But, I'm going to give you the simple answer: Success = celebrating the little victories.

Things like making your bed, taking a shower, taking a twenty minute walking, choosing to eat a bowl of fruit, vacuuming your bedroom, or writing a thank you note may not seem like a big deal. Instead of thinking about the nourishment the bowl of fruit will give you, you might cancel it out in your mind because you ate a chocolate bar earlier. And I'm assuming that you feel guilty you only worked out for twenty minutes, instead of lifting weights + running on the treadmill for an hour.

Don't let the bad > good. If the small "mistakes" or little rabbit trails have you convinced that they have such impact on your life, why not let the little triumphs weigh in as well? Sure, brushing your teeth in the morning or before bed should be what you're doing all the time. So take a look at every time you remember and realize that you're doing great.

"Okay," you're probably thinking, "but how does this make a difference in the long run? And when will I wake up and realize that my life has finally transformed into the life I aspired to have all along? Here's how it works: When you acknowledge the small successes throughout your day, you are subconsciously training your mind to identify positively with the small, realistic accomplishments.

When you begin to reward yourself for the small things, you will be motivated to achieve more, little by little. This is has the snow plow affect, and before you know it, you'll be running that extra mile, craving a bowl of fruit rather than a bowl of chips, and wanting to read a couple book chapters before bed instead of Netflix.

Of course, there are always going to be set backs in between your efforts to improve yourself. You're human. You're a beautiful disaster, created to be perfectly you. There will be days where you cry, days where you get frustrated, and days where you just plain throw your hands in the air and lay on the couch. In the dark. With a bowl of ice cream. (Alright, you caught me, I'm not perfect, either).

So, remember to leave some wiggle room for imperfection...and celebrate yourself! No matter what.

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About the Creator

Jordan Ziemba

Jordan Ziemba has a passion for writing and helping people.She is currently attending Lansing Community College to become a human service professional. She loves ice cream, Croc sandals, and Gone With the Wind.

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