One Small Step to your goal = One Giant Massage for your Morale

Why is it so hard to stay motivated? I think sometimes it’s because we don’t give ourselves enough time to savor the small victories. For instance, at the beginning of the school term you have decided you want to get an A in your math class. So the first mid-term arrives and you have gotten an 80%. Not the A you expected, but a step in the right direction. So instead of focusing on that and taking time off to watch a movie, you are already worrying about the next text and assignment due. Basically, rather than give your morale a “Red Bull”, you are pounding it with worries.

No war is won in any single battle, but by a series of victories. After each victory, the general will tell his troops to celebrate. If they are on home turf, they go home to their wives and families. If they are away, they take the night off and celebrate. The general realizes the importance of troop morale =and knows giving them that time to savor the victory. This is also true in life. Celebrate avoiding that store when it moves you closer to saving some money. Celebrate that mid-term goal when it moves you closer to that A in the class. Celebrate making it through a week of cardio workouts when it moves you closer to being a fit person.

Sometimes we’re already thinking of the next step and we miss the chance to give our morale the boost that it needs. Of course this doesn’t mean that celebrating at the detriment of ruining the overall goal. After all it won’t make sense to save money by not buying new clothes and then going out to spend another $25 on food and drinks.

Another way in which small victories can have an effect is to go back and review them. Make a mental note because this way you are not looking towards an external source for motivation, but at yourself and your track record. Think about the times that your small efforts in another area of your life and how that made you feel.

Constant reminders like this help towards moving ahead and staying on the task. Give yourself a pat on the back. Now excuse me while I go and celebrate writing 2 articles last week .