Celebrate the Small Wins

This essay was written for the Makers of Sport® newsletter in April 2016. Monday Musings and Weekend Reads were the written editions of the newsletter that accompanied the podcast; the archived email is on Mailchimp. The newsletter's links and announcements are trimmed here.

I took a bit of hiatus from Weekend Reads due to some travel, but am glad to be back. Especially with today's topic of taking time to be deliberate in slowing down.

Oftentimes in the daily grind of our professional lives, it's easy to get caught up in thinking about "the next thing". What is our next move up the ladder of our career?

With social media and our seemingly constant need for Internet consumption, it's easy to become envious of those that may be at a different stage of their careers than us; or to become too focused on that dream job, client or project that we hope to land one day.

In doing so, we tend to become so future-focused that we often forget to acknowledge or be satisfied with – even if only for a moment – the things we have acheived up to this point. The small wins if you will.

Life is not static, but rather dynamic. So too is our career—a constantly evolving, progressing, and changing thing that is based heavily on our interests as well as our time. Just as our careers never stand still, neither do innovation, creativity and human development.

In a world that continues to progress in intelligence and technology faster than any other time in human history, there will always be new software & hardware to learn, new brands to dream of working for, or new skills to develop.

Consider the fact that social media as a marketing and communication discipline is only around 10 years old. Or that before the brand Under Armour, Nike was king; and prior to them, Adidas and Puma.

The most notorious and wealthy entrepreneurs in modern history always tend to want more. They want to continue growing and achieving mastery. Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Phil Knight, Martha Stuart, Arianna Huffington, et al all continue (or continued until death in the case of Jobs) to innovate and grow new ventures or ideas.

No matter our level of wealth and success, it will may n ever seem to be enough if you are a driven person. For this reason, we must take deliberate action and celebrate the small wins upon our own journey.

To be clear, by celebrating I do not mean stopping and dwelling on successes, but rather briefly acknowledging the accolades we have received for our hard work. Did you win a design award? Celebrate it. Did you land a higher paying client? Celebrate it. Did you land an internship on the team you dreamed of? Celebrate it. But do so briefly and continue working hard.

For me, I've been cursed with constantly thinking about what is next. So much so that I often forget about great things that have happened along the way. I rarely stopped when the podcast made iTunes New & Noteworthy, no easy feat considering there are hundreds of thousands of podcasts in the App Store. And when I designed a spread in SLAM magazine, A publication I have loved deeply as a basketball fan since I were a kid, I barely thought about it once the issue came out because I was already focused on (or envious of) something bigger and more notable.

Recently however, while spending some time with my kids, I had an epiphany. I became mindful of how fast they are growing older and mindful of how I long for days of seeing them on some high school or college athletic field. Essentially wishing time away and not putting value in the present. Therefore, I decided that I'm going to take deliberate time each week, even if it's an hour, to consider what has been achieved both personally and professionally and celebrate it. I have realized that if I continue to be future-focused only, then my life will pass before my eyes as quickly as my kids are growing old.

So this week, I encourage you to take some time and reflect on what you have achieved thus far in your own journey. Be mindful of your small wins along the way. Acknowledge them, and then continue to move forward without dwelling on them and being satisfied.

Have a great week, y'all. Hope to see you in the Community Slack chat soon.

Cheers,

Adam