Reality Check: Small Achievements? Worth Recognizing

If you’ve been thinking that it’s time to put yourself on a path to getting your life together, then setting and achieving goals will likely be part of that process.
Your goals might include habits or attitudes that you want to give up. And you might have a few goals around what you want to acquire or achieve.
It’s common to find goals in a workplace. While they might be referred to as objectives or quotas, they essentially state “what we want.”
A difference you might notice between goals at work and personal goals is in the area of accountability.
At work, even if we’re the boss, someone is holding us accountable! It might be a customer, manager, colleague, committee member… somebody notices whether we are doing what we’ve said we will do. And they will probably say something about it. I’d like to think that it’ll be “thank you” when we do deliver on our goals. Especially when we don’t, we’ll most likely get some comments.
We can view this as helpful. We know someone is watching, thus, we know that what we are doing matters to someone.
Let’s contrast the workplace goal with a personal goal. When you define goals, whether they are big and bold or ordinary run-of-the-mill goals, the path to achievement can get discouraging. When that happens, your goal can be in danger of falling by the wayside.
Whether you call them hopes or dreams or goals, especially in early stages, they can be delicate. It can be hard to keep your eye on the prize of a big, long-term goal that could involve uncertainty and risk.
You may have chosen not to discuss your goal with people who may be all too eager to point out the potential flaws and difficulties.
So how do you keep yourself motivated? It’s all well and good to know that you are pursuing the right path for you, but when times get tough, how do you stay on track?
My suggestion is by no means ground-breaking; I’m sure you’ve heard it before. But sometimes fundamental suggestions bear repeating. Here it is:
A big goal is made up of small steps. Write them down.
How detailed should those steps be? That’s your choice. I’d suggest that you consider how easy it is for you to get discouraged. Very easy? Break it up into a lot of tiny steps. But if you’re not too likely to plunge into discouragement, you may not need a high level of detail.
Then, every step you achieve, every tiny advance you make, celebrate. Even if that celebration is just in your own mind. Many of you know that I recommend writing these things down and checking them off, but I do recognize that different people have different ways of keeping track. Regardless, acknowledge your success, even in the tiny accomplishments.
What does this have to do with Choice Theory? You may remember that Choice Theory says we have basic needs. One of those basic needs is called power, which I often refer to as recognition.
My observation is there are plenty of folks who are lacking recognition (whether they realize it or not.) Even when they do something extraordinary (for them) no one seems to notice.
As we know, we can’t control other people. We can’t make them recognize us, at least not in a long-term sustainable way.
Achieving goals, even small ones, is one way to satisfy that need without requiring recognition from other people. You can recognize yourself through the undeniable achievement of your goals, even the tiny steps. Be your own cheerleader.
How do you recognize your own accomplishments?