We’ve got goals. BIG goals. Buy a house, start a family, get promoted, lead a team, inspire others, travel through South America. Big goals mean big sacrifices. Big sacrifices come in the form of time. None of this happens overnight.

That’s why it’s so important to celebrate the small wins.

Maybe celebrate isn’t the right word for some of you. Cool – how about acknowledge? If we’re goal-setting effectively, today’s goal is the real only goal, and getting that done demands some acknowledgement. Without it, we set ourselves up for frustration, for hopelessness, for burnout.

A few weeks ago we redefined progress in a way that broke big projects and goals down into smaller tasks. These little guys are your small wins. Each day, they deserve just as much credit for the W down the road as the finished product itself.

A former client felt like progress toward his goal could only be made either in one huge step or a thousand smaller ones. Neither of them felt satisfying, doable, or inspiring. During one conversation he got to a place where what did sound satisfying and doable and inspiring was taking one step at a time. That was it. All he had to focus on each day. Sometimes that narrowing of the vision is really helpful, especially when you turn around one day and see how high you’ve reached, how many steps are back there behind you.

How do we celebrate these wins? It’s up to you to find what feels genuine and good. I’d encourage you to think about who you can share these wins with. Self-satisfaction is lovely, but it feels damn good to have someone acknowledge it with you.

In the gym, a trainer is going to let you know you crushed that last set, right? They high-five you and tell you you’re awesome. You grin a little embarrassedly, but you take the compliment and grab your water. You feel it too. It was hard as hell, but you really did crush that last set. And someone was there to witness it, to acknowledge your grit, to celebrate your hard work and how far you’ve come. You don’t have six-pack abs yet. Yet. But you marked your progress and are inspired to hit the next exercise.

If we have our sights set on a big goal (as we should), let that goal define your daily habits. And celebrate, or acknowledge, the progress you’re making every time you complete your smaller habits and tasks.

One last thought: we’re grateful for where we are only when we can acknowledge where we used to be. That gratitude is pretty powerful too. I’ll just leave that one there for you.

Go get ‘em this week.