Like most of us, if you have spent this year plowing through your immense to-do list, orchestrating the various demands of life, it’s likely that you have overlooked what could have been a major source of daily happiness.
Your wins and accomplishments … the things that were on (or off) your to-do list, that you have actually managed to get checked off. The daily tasks you achieved throughout the year, are all huge reasons to celebrate. In fact, the smaller the ‘thing’, the more reason to celebrate!
According to research, there is incredible power in small wins. It’s the fulfillment that comes from making progress!
Each day you experience wins, both big and small, but you could be moving too fast (or you are too hard on yourself) to notice.
To always be focused on “what’s next?” can, and will deplete you. Once you make an effort to start noting and celebrating the small things, it can increase your sense of self-worth, and your happiness.
Ask yourself if during the course of 2017, you regularly glossed over some of these things:
1. You ate a healthy breakfast
2. You exercised
3. You spent time playing with a child, with your phone on mute in another room
4. You said NO to something you really didn’t want to do
5. You sat down and read something that made you think
6. You took a short walk and really appreciated your surroundings, without your phone in your pocket
One way to celebrate the small things is to keep track of them, and give yourself some rewards.
Documenting your small wins will give you visible proof of what you’ve accomplished, so that you are more likely to keep at it. It will also help shut down that inner critic who tells you that you are never doing enough.
As 2017 comes to a close, please think about the small things that made you happy this year. Write them down in a fresh journal, with your favourite pen (if you don’t have a favourite pen, buy yourself one … believe me it matters).
Then use that journal as a road map for 2018. Do more of what made you happy, and continue to celebrate the small things. Remember to honour the meaningful things in your life … the smaller the better!
