Setting priorities, planning actions, and doing the hard work are all necessary steps for tackling big goals. Whether your goal is more time with your kids or discovering the next great scientific breakthrough, every goal requires some (or a lot) of hard work. Achieving goals requires day in and day out rising to the occasion. It takes effort and energy and time to accomplish the next brilliant feat in our lives.
But what use is a goal if we never stop to celebrate?
I’ve been thinking about this as I struggle to get back to my previous running routine. For the last year, I have been fighting an injury. Running is a huge part of my life. Under healthy conditions, I run five to six days a week, train for ultra marathons, and log hundreds of hours hitting the pavement or trails. I’ve had massive success running races up to 100 kilometers long. In my past, there was a ton to celebrate.
But I never did. I was so excited about the next goal, always pushing forward, always planning for what came next. I loved each accomplishment, but aside from a yummy dinner and dessert post-race, I didn’t slow down enough to enjoy the journey I had just completed.
But now, I find myself in a place where running 4 miles is a big deal. Where once that was merely a warm-up, it is now a huge accomplishment. And yet, I still compare to “before” and get frustrated I am not running the big miles I used to.
What good does it do to compare? None.
Looking back to how I used to run does nothing to help me with the next goal. I want to get back to running those enormous distances, but I have to take the steps along the way to get there. I can’t climb a mountain if I don’t start at the base.
So what does this all have to do with celebration? It’s the whole point, in fact!
We focus on a destination and only when we arrive do we believe we will have success or accomplishment or even meaning for our lives. But the destination is a singular moment in time. It is crossing the finish line of a race, reading a published paper, or taking a final bow. The destination is the culmination of all the hard work.
Along the way to that destination are a million little actions that get us there. Hard work is putting on the running shoes each morning and stepping out the door. It is putting pen to paper and drafting sentences and paragraphs to share ideas. It is analyzing data and gathering feedback to make hard decisions.
Celebrating the big successes at the destination is critical for remembering why you bothered with all that hard work. When you arrive, don’t forget to have the barbeque. But along the way, you need to pause and celebrate those successes as well.
I am working towards being able to run ultramarathon again. I am taking the steps necessary to get there, but it is a long way off. If I wait until I cross another finish line, I will slog along with no wins for quite some time.
But what if I pause and celebrate the next time I finish a run that is just a little longer than the last? What if after my next run, I take a few minutes to pat myself on the back and remember that only a few months ago I couldn’t even run a mile?
Celebrating the successes along the way builds motivation to keep going and creates an environment that highlights all the ways you are already winning. To reach a goal, you must keep showing up day in and day out, and that is hard to do without a few pats on the back along the way.
The next first step to tackling your dreams is to look at where you already have had success. If you focus on the fact that you aren’t there yet, you will only build despair and self-pity, but if you focus on all the ways you have already succeeded, you will build a road map to your own finish line.
