Celebrate the Joy of Progress

Take a quick stop to celebrate progress, but like the little engine that could, keep chugging towards your goals.

What progress are you making towards your goals?

About 5 minutes ago, I created the first ever draft of a lead magnet for my business. Do you think I did a cheerleader-style hurkey in my office? Or picked up my husband’s old trumpet to blow my horn?

Nope. I slapped myself silly and thought - what took you so long? why is this the first-ever download you’ve created for yourself when you’ve spent years creating things like this for clients?

Luckily, the empowered side of the brain kicked in and I thought "progress.”

You see, to achieve our goals we need to:

1. Identify the goals

2. Design a plan to reach them

3. Make progress towards the plan

4. Celebrate progress along the way

5. Reach the goal

6. Start again

One of the things I’ve been advocating for my clients is to leave judgement behind and celebrate progress. Instead of saying “I should have done it faster, I should have done it better, I should have…’—take a moment and say, ‘wow, I did that. I got that done.’

Why? By celebrating progress, we’re motivating ourselves to keep moving towards our goals. We’re using the carrot rather than the stick.

By focusing on our achievements, we reconnect with our motivation—and remember why we’ve set that goal in the first place. Neurologists have been touting the power of positivity for years and this is just one element.

In grad school, I seemed to have this idea down. Between chapters of my thesis, I took the time to read a fun novel, rather than bog myself down with more academia. This little reward refreshed and renewed me and really allowed me to do a better job on the work I still had to do.

Warning: Don’t party too hard and rest on your laurels! Making progress is just one step in reaching your goal. Take a moment to celebrate, give yourselves a reward but don’t lose momentum.

Frankly, it’s easier to continue to move towards our goals when our endorphins are engaged and we’re proud of our accomplishments. Celebrating progress helps us rest, renew and move towards the next stages. And really, we feel better about ourselves.

P.S. My lead magnet will be available soon. While perfection is the enemy, I want another day or two to tweak!

Step 1, to get what you want, you must know what you want.

I hate grocery shopping…it not the act of shopping that is the problem, it is deciding.

There are so many inputs when it comes to the food I buy— the health conscious literature (constantly changing), the kiddos desires, the hubby’s desire, the how-much-effort-am-I-willing-to-go-to question, the weekly schedule, the cost, the hungry tummy…I’m sure there are more. But, when I take the time to meal plan, I’m 100% better off. I go to the store armed with a list of what to buy and my week goes much better.

Setting Intentions

I’ve found the same to be true for my every part of my life. When I take the time to decide what I want, I can create a plan and achieve it! When I don’t take the time, I don’t reach my goals. This is true for every part of life—if you don’t decide you want to go to Hawaii this year, you’re not going to go.

The longer I’ve lived, the more complicated and hard it seems to be to decide what I want. Like with grocery shopping, there are more and more inputs to consider: family commitments, money, time, daily demands like the grocery shopping and the laundry, fear and anxiety….the list goes on. There can also be a limiting belief that doing this work doesn’t change anything.

Take the Time

Taking the time changes everything! It’s enabled me to launch a new business, go to Yellowstone with the fam, integrate more fun in my life and more!

My approach takes into account the inputs—the basic requirements of life—as well as my own priorities, so I can live more intentionally and align my decisions about how I spend my time with those priorities.

If you’re interested on taking the time to define your intentional life, I’m hosting a workshop on April 13 from 2-5 p.m. to guide you through this process. You’ll set your intentions and create a strategy for meeting them. And you’ll have a lot of fun in the process.