When I feel like I am living right at the centre of a paradox or a pull in multiple directions, I’m usually in the right place.
For example, I noticed myself giving this apparently contradictory advice to clients recently:
“Keep your eye on the prize and be clear what game you’re playing. It’s easy to get distracted by relatively unimportant activities and outcomes at the expense of the most important things that deserve our attention…”
…and…
“Don’t lose sight of the small wins that maintain momentum and keep us motivated on the way to bigger gains.”
It’s a tension that keeps organizational strategic planning interesting for me, as I spend a lot of time helping leaders clearly define their win. If your race has multiple or competing finish lines, it’s hard to run hard. But if your big win is an ultra-marathon away, you need to celebrate smaller victories that keep your mojo up along the way, without being pulled off course by them. And it’s an important strategic choice to decide whether you measure performance at both levels. Tackling poverty or food insecurity or housing should guide your big decisions and determine your focus. Team cohesion, organizational efficiency or skill building aren’t why you exist, but wins in those areas should also be celebrated.
The same is true when you’re on your way to a personal goal. My physical strength at the gym may not be better this week than last, but I give myself a mental high five every day that I remember to take my vitamins or actually make it to my 6 a.m. lift. This morning, it crossed my mind that my ‘weak social ties’ with the people in my gym class are contributing to my social health, regardless of how much weight I could bench press today.
We tend to lean one way or the other, and I’m curious if you need to remember the big plot or celebrate the small victories today. Either way, pay attention to what’s on your scorecard. You might be struggling with something specific right now, but “winning at life!”