Don’t Ignore Small Victories

Good afternoon, everybody. Ron here, Lone Star Barbell Club. I come to you quickly this afternoon on a subject that is something that I deal with quite a bit personally. It’s learning to accept the small victories that we have. I’m notorious for only seeing what I need to work on. Only noticing the things that I hate when I look in the mirror or in life and other areas, the things that I’m doing in business and noticing only the failures, noticing only the shortcomings.

It’s human nature. I’ve known so many people over the years that the only thing they ever see is the thing that is the most hideous, the most horrible, the thing that they really want to change the most. The problem with that is it’s quite discouraging if that’s all you ever see and you ignore and don’t notice and don’t take time to acknowledge the fact that you are improving.

If you’re doing the work, if you’re working in the program and you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, then I’m not saying ignore the problem, not saying ignoring the things that you need to fix. Obviously, that won’t work either, but focusing on them solely is a source of frustration, disappointment. It makes it really hard to stay motivated, as we talked about last time on my last video about motivation.

One of the keys to being and staying motivated to do these things for yourself is you acknowledge what you need to do, you formulated plan, you work the plan and then you take the time and you have the wherewithal to notice the changes that are taking place and the victories that are taking place. I don’t care if it’s a half a pound on the scale, if it’s two pounds, three pounds on a particular exercise, you’ve been trying to increase, if it’s a one more sale, one more client.

Whatever it is, whatever you’re doing, take time to notice those victories, take time to notice those successes and let them build and focus on them more than you focus on the things that you don’t like, the things that you want to change. Those things are there. We can’t avoid them. We can’t ignore them. They’re very, very obvious and very in our face, so to speak. The problem with that is, is it tends to blur and block out the things that we’re doing that are working.

They’re not always big. Sometimes they’re just little, small victories, but the small victories will add up to big, especially if you will focus on them. If you’re not getting those, then you know that the program you’re doing, whether it’s a training program, whether it’s a sales program, whether it’s a particular strategy for your business, if you’re not seeing those small victories, then you know that something needs to change.

But if you never acknowledged them, you’re never looking for them, if you don’t know whether they’re happening or not, because all you’re focusing on is the things that you don’t like and the things that want to see change, it makes making those changes more difficult. You’re slower to do it. It slows down the entire process. But if you’ll just look for those small victories, pay attention and see those little things from day to day that are happening, that are getting you closer to your goal, it makes it much easier to either stay the course on what you’re doing, if it’s working, or making a change. If what you’re doing is not getting you there.

It’s not making those little small victories then, yeah, you need to look at what you’re doing. Maybe you’re the in my world, maybe your training program is not up to par. Maybe what you’re doing is not hard enough, not intense enough. There’s 1,001 variables. But if you’re not ever looking at anything but what is horrible, then you’re never going to be able to make the changes you need to bite into that thing. As I say, eating an elephant one bite at a time, that’s how we get where we’re going. It’s one little step at a time.

I hope that helps you guys today. Stay focused on what you’re doing. Look for those little things, acknowledge them and then move on to the next one. You’ll see that big thing that you’ve been staring at, whether it’s in the mirror or in the bank account or on the spreadsheet, wherever it may be, you can start working that thing down and making the gains in life that you’ve been trying to make. You guys keep training, keep working, we’ll see you soon. Take care.