When you shift your focus from what’s left undone to what you’ve accomplished — when you celebrate what you did get done — you increase your confidence and are able to maintain better productivity.
I learned this when I ran a half-marathon a few years ago (OK, it was actually 12 years ago, but who’s counting?). It was an important lesson about how to keep going when the finish line feels impossibly far away.
At the start of the race, the energy was electric. Motivation was high. Confidence was soaring. But after the first couple of miles, reality set in — 13.1 miles is a long way to run. The further I went, the more overwhelming the distance ahead felt.
What kept me going was shifting my focus from how far I still had to go to how far I’d already come.
I celebrated every mile marker I passed. Then every half-mile. By the end, I was celebrating every single step.
It’s the same with our work-from-home lives.
It’s easy to look at your unfinished to-do list at the end of the day and feel defeated — like you’re never going to catch up or get it all done. But what if you flipped the script?
What if, instead of fixating on what’s left undone, you paused to celebrate what you did get done?
Celebrate What You Did Get Done, the Small Wins
Every email sent. Every task crossed off. Every client call wrapped. Every small win along the way.
Those little celebrations fuel your motivation to keep going. They remind you that progress is happening — even when it feels slow.
Harvard Business Review reported on The Power of Small Wins as part of what researchers called the “progress principle.” Robin Sharma calls it the “Small Win Principle for Maximum Performance.” Check it out:
Action Step
Here’s your challenge for the next week, if you choose to accept it:
At the end of each workday, write down 3 things you accomplished — no matter how small — and give yourself a little pat on the back, a little “hell yes, I did that!”
If you’re feeling extra tenacious, share your wins on social media with the hashtags #tenaciouswfh so I can celebrate with you!
After all, each and every step forward is worth celebrating.