Don’t Forget to Celebrate
If you’re reading this, the chances are pretty good that you’re at least somewhat goal-oriented.
You probably have things you want to accomplish. You probably have your sights set on some skill or some health marker or some activity or some body composition. Goals are powerful. They help focus us and push and pull us in a particular direction.
But there can be a hidden dark side to goals set and achieved over time…
If you have a goal of running a mile in 10 minutes and you pull it off, the next question that’s going to follow, from you or from someone else (I’ve said it myself), is… “What’s next?” A 09:30 mile? A 9:00 mile? A 5k? A pull-up? You checked off one goal, time to move to the next!
But when we go that route, what happens in our brains is that we are always striving, always reaching, always focused on the thing that we can’t do yet.
Not a big deal, except that over time, your entire perspective on your own abilities is that you’re not yet where you want to be. And that might be true. But living inside unrealized dreams for weeks and months and years can become deeply discouraging. (This is talked about at length in the book The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan).
It becomes very easy to see how far you are from where you want to be without seeing that you might already be far beyond what you thought was possible two years ago. We focus so much on the gap between where we are now and where we want to be that we miss all the ground that we’ve gained along the journey.
Enter: Celebration.
Next time you hit that goal – the skill, the number, the activity – even if it’s small – resist the urge to immediately set a new goal.
Instead, think about how you are going to celebrate the thing that you just accomplished.
And as a pro tip, think if there’s something tangible that will feel celebratory. A drink, a meal… these things are great, but become fleeting memories. There’s power in deciding to buy that shirt that you’ve wanted, or to pay your friend to paint you something. A tangible reminder is something that will remind you of that accomplishment every time you look at it. It will show you how far you’ve come and help you remember what you’re capable of. This is what trophies are. And as much as they can become clutter, there’s a reason people hang on to them.
It’s because reminders are powerful. Set your goals, achieve them, but don’t forget to celebrate before you move on.