Your Personal Victory Journey

This week I was thinking about the ‘personal’ side of ‘personal victories.’ Yes, as much as ‘personal’ has to do with these victories being individual, customized or specific to you, there’s also a part of them that is about something other than the victory. Yes, of course you’re accomplishing a victory or making progress on one, but it’s also about showing up for yourself, showing yourself you can do things, doing things you’re proud of, pushing through on stuff because you care, choosing to do the right thing and being true to where your heart is.

Many days we have a choice to push through or to give up. Sometimes we can put things off to another day, but other times we don’t have that opportunity and we have to decide how much something matters to us or if it’s really time sensitive. If it really matters to us or can’t be postponed we have to decide how much we’re going to push and what we’re going to give to be successful on whatever level we’re working on. Maybe it is a work-related effort, maybe it’s still success oriented or quantifiable in some other way, or maybe it has very little that can be counted or measured and instead getting it done is just about knowing you won’t be happy with yourself if you don’t make that effort.

Maybe the answer to the question is that what’s best for you is to not do anything. Maybe what you need to do is take that break or that nap or that walk, eat that cookie, snuggle your pet or kid, or stop trying to do it all on your own and get some help. There’s no shame in taking that direction if that’s what’s right for you in the situation and will help you get to the next step of your victory journey, even if it’s about gathering strength or being more prepared for what’s coming. And if pushing through is what’s best for you, then give it your best effort and put limits or boundaries in place even if it’s not something you would usually do.

‘Plan B’ Victories

The other day I had an odd opportunity, one that is something you usually have to work at: I had no internet but I did have power. Of course cell phones still worked thankfully but to not have internet at home while everything else still worked was a different experience from what normally happens when there’s no internet because usually that’s paired with a power failure and treacherous storms which add so many layers of stress and tons of complications and challenges. So while I was without internet, of course I did what anyone with multiple to-do lists would do: get to work!

The thing about this opportunity that was different from many situations when we have to turn to other pages of our to-do lists is that I wasn’t completely frustrated over the fact that things weren’t going according to plan, or high priority things weren’t getting done. Of course I had other plans for that day that didn’t get done, but I really accepted that the situation was what it was and I could sit and watch the lights blink (kind of like watching paint dry) or I could use the time I was given to my advantage. And part of that advantage was being grateful that I didn’t have all those other stressors slowing me down on getting stuff done, and doing a little unexpected relaxing, since all I was missing was internet and not power.

So the question becomes: if you’re in a situation where things aren’t working out like you anticipated or maybe even needed to, what good could come from going with an alternative plan until things were back to normal? I’m thankful for all the victories I accomplished that day, as well as the losses I didn’t experience, and it was another reminder that when we are given an opportunity to work ahead in our victory journeys we should because you never know when a snag will hit and you’ll get set back a bit. What has helped you when you’re in a situation where ‘plan b’ becomes what has to be done, whether temporarily or permantently?

Sharing Victory Progress

Did you get a lot of donation requests from nature-focused organizations and charities last month for Earth Month/Earth Day/Arbor Day? I know I did! People and money are what really make our world work, and have for decades if not centuries, and now we add technology to that list often because without technology much of our world wouldn’t work. So I understand that they need to ask people to volunteer or share their cause, and to need donations, and that without asking or sharing about their need, they’re not likely to get either. It makes total sense and it’s the same reason why businesses send out marketing emails and post ads on TV and websites so that they can make money to stay in business. Which means that I don’t really mind that they sent out so many requests last month, especially since there was so much in the news about Earth Day (including the eclipse earlier in the month).

So what does this have to do with victories? The ask, or the sharing, is definitely part of the victory journey. Sometimes we need advice or we need the support or resources of another, and even if that ‘ask’ happens through internet research, someone had to post that research/information out there to be found. We don’t even always ask for things that people can give us like money or physical involvement, but a bit of direction or wisdom based on previous experience or a connection/recommendation. One of my favorite victory ‘asks’ are the senior citizens or people who are vertically challenged asking for help reaching an item on the top shelf at the grocery store. It’s at most 30 seconds out of your day and it makes them so happy to be able to get what they want (without bringing the store/shelf down or hurting themselves).

But this post isn’t really about the ask or the sharing, but about what comes next after you’ve received. Doing, as I call it, “bad math,” a rough estimate would be that I heard from 15% of all the organizations that asked for donations during Earth Month. Only a handful of the many that asked later shared with their audiences how things went and that they passed or reached their goal. When you don’t pass on that celebration, when you don’t share the good news, it makes the conversation look really one sided and like all these organizations do is take-take-take (or ask-ask-ask) and all you get are more requests and bad news. My new policy when it comes to donating to non-profits of all kinds is that I only donate to those who follow up and share updates about how the donations are being used.

So the question to you then is: have you shared about the progress you’ve made in your victories lately? Maybe you haven’t scaled Mt Everest yet or haven’t written the whole book or haven’t gotten one flower to grow (you just have green leaves), but you can still share progress updates and take time to celebrate what you have done, especially as a result of what help you’ve been given. So what progress can you share about and celebrate today?

Think Straight for Victory

Can you think yourself to victory? I certainly have thought myself out of a few victories, so I believe that you can think yourself to victory too. Yes, there will be some action after you do the thinking, but a big part of achieving victory is having the right course of action planned and knowing what will work best or thinking through your options so that you’ve really considered what will or won’t work. After all, how many times have you talked yourself out of doing something either at all or much sooner than you could have and as a result you missed out on a victory or victory sooner?

You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘not thinking straight,’ and that’s exactly where this discussion on thought began the other day. I was going in so many circles mentally that I couldn’t get from start to finish on projects. I’d be able to start something but not have the thought connection or process to go from the start to the next step and then to the finish. And even when I did know what the steps were from start to finish, I’d have to bring myself back to task more often than I usually do. Many people get like this when they’re hungry or overtired or super stressed: they just can’t process thought at their normal pace or in their normal ways and therefore say or do things that they normally wouldn’t (or wouldn’t do if they were thinking straight/correctly).

The biggest lesson in all this is to remember that just like anything else, our minds and thought processes don’t run at 100% success rates all the time. Not only are mental health days necessary, but I also know that we can break through the mental blocks and ‘not thinking straight’ moments quicker if we’re willing to recognize them and stop when we realize we’re going in circles rather than fighting and pushing through. I know it’s tempting to push, and sometimes we do and it’s OK, but I think one of the reasons we push when we should stop for a bit at least is because so much else in life challenges us like people we’re in relationship with and our bodies and Mother Nature that we hit a point that we just can’t take another issue or loss.

So if you’re struggling with a breakthrough in your victory journey, maybe it’s time to do a thought check and step away for a second to make sure that you’re not missing something, you’re not blindly going in circles or that you haven’t considered more creative solutions that would work better for you and your victory in the long run. What have you thought of lately?

Do You Have Any Good Ideas?

Do you have any good ideas? I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot recently. Of course, doing a lot of the work I do I’m constantly in need of ideas for content and clients and projects, so between client work, social media marketing, 4-6 blog posts each week, a weekly devotional and newsletters I’m always in the market for good ideas. The issue I’ve been running across especially lately though has to do not with not having any ideas, but with not feeling like they’re good enough.

While I’m not a perfectionist I do feel responsible for the content I put out and work I do with my clients, so of course I want do put my best work out there as often as possible. Which means that I’m not necessarily going to write about the first thing I think of because even if I can flesh out the idea, it might not seem worthy of being shared. I might have shared on it recently and feel like I shouldn’t repeat it or it might seem to basic or to over done or not appropriate for the season or too much or too little or so many other reasons why I end up killing so many ideas.

But all too often I think we dismiss ourselves and block ourselves from accomplishing not only a victory but an easy victory. Maybe you face what I do when it comes to ideas when you’re asked to share something motivational for the next office meeting or everyone is supposed to come up with ideas for marketing at work and they’re talking about how great theirs all are or the kids are telling you that they don’t want to do the ‘same old thing’ again this weekend. Yes, we need to keep coming up with ideas because life does change and you never know when the right moment will be to use an idea, but at the same time, I also think we need to just go with our ideas sooner and more often rather than putting them on the back burner. Maybe it won’t be the “perfect” idea that you could come up with if you spend another week thinking about it, but in that week’s time, how many hours will you lose to thinking when you could have been making more progress on your victories? Trust yourself and your ideas and think more! Because the more you think, the more ideas you’ll have and the more ideas you’ll have to work with when you do need ideas and the better you’ll be at taking even mediocre ideas and turning them into good ones. What ideas do you have that you’re going to bring to life?

Focus, Flow and Victories

I’ve been having some focus issues lately, have you? Maybe it was the earthquake or new moon or eclipse or my plants actually growing flowers or doing my taxes, maybe it’s Mercury Retrograde, or maybe it’s something completely different, but I’ve had trouble getting into the flow and being able to focus for long periods of time even though I’ve been in a fairly consistent routine over the last few weeks. Yes, I’ve been able to get what I need to done, but lately it’s taken twice as long as it should or usually does, which isn’t exactly frustrating but means that I have to allow extra time for each activity than I usually might.

On some level given exactly how hard I’m working for each victory right now they seem a little sweeter. Do I wish I could accomplish more victories each day? Of course, but some times all we can do is all we can do and we have to choose to be upset by that or thankful for the victories we are able to be accomplished. Would I like to figure out why I feel so out of flow and having trouble focusing? Yes, so when I need a break I do think about what might be different or what might help or what I might be doing or not doing and would be affecting me in such a way.

For now I’ll keep pushing through and paying attention for clues, all the while hoping that it’s a phase and it will pass soon and of course celebrating the victories I do accomplish whether they take 3x as long as they should or require twice as much support as they usually do or if I magically find myself in a moment of flow and focus and speed to victory. Are you at a point right now that you’re encouraging others to victory or in need of the encouragement to keep going yourself?

Systems Clear a Path to Victory

There’s something to be said for crossing things off your to-do list, isn’t there!? I’ve really been enjoying doing exactly that in the last couple of weeks. For a couple of months it felt like all I was doing was working or sleeping, and things just kept getting put off. Thankfully most things didn’t have to get done immediately, but still, as you may know, when the piles get big they’re more intimidating to tackle even if all some require is postage and to be mailed, a quick text or email in reply, or a quick shred and they’re taken care of.

One of the best things about going through this most recent backlog was that everything went relatively quickly when I did get to it because in the months/years past I’d started systems that helped me manage all of it. I knew that I had those systems in place but sometimes I forget how well organized I can be or if a system has really progressed to a place that it’s plug-and-go or if it’s still under varying degrees of construction. So finding that I was a lot closer to good-to-go than not was a big relief and meant that things could be completed on time or in the time I allotted to them.

What about you? Do you have systems in your life that support you and help you manage the day-to-day and take stuff off your plate completely or as quickly as possible which gives you more time to work on your victories? From technology to people to boxes and storage tools to note taking and making sure everything has a “home” (even if it’s an intentionally temporary one), systems can be your new best friend if you’re willing to invest in them, develop them and follow through with them. What systems do you have that help make your life easier and free you up to have more time to work on your victories?

Time and Taxes

Have you worked on your taxes yet? We’re less than a month out from the official tax day here in the US and that means time is running out for those who plan to file by that date. I know personally every year is different for me. I certainly don’t file my taxes the first day that you can and I’ve never filed late, but some years it seems all very last minute while other years I get it done earlier. So while you could say that victory was reached every year, the journey to victory certainly is different each year. And that’s how it is with some victories, that you know a point in time you want something done by and have some decisions to make about how you’re going to get it done and when.

It’s a lot less stressful when I can spread the work out over several sessions rather than trying to get it all done in a very short period of time. Do I want to get it done and be done with it, of course, but it’s a lot less pressure knowing that I could work through different pieces over the course of a few weeks. Like some victories there’s a deadline for taxes, so you know how much time you technically have to pull everything together. But even if you do prep work throughout the year, there’s always some more work to do in the new year to pull all the numbers and papers/information together and get it filed, even if you work with an accountant. So as for taxes, with your victories you have to determine how much you can do ahead, if you’re going to do as much as you can ahead or not, and in the home stretch if you can plan it out in such a way that you’re not only accomplishing your victory step by step but you’re also not neglecting other aspects of your life including your health.

The amount of time any victory takes also depends on the structures and systems you have in place. As you know, it’s a lot more work to get your taxes done if you haven’t done any record keeping during the year and start in January (or April) with a stack of papers and information and try to get it all in line. But if you’ve been putting emails in the proper folders to track expenses and keeping your expense software or paperwork up to date throughout the year it’s a lot easier when the time to file comes. While not every victory journey can be totally structured and planned out often there are structures and systems that can help you take the journey a lot smoother and make it easier on you to not only be successful but accomplish it in a timely fashion.

Time is finite: we only have so much to work with. So if we know that we’re going to spend time on certain things or want to spend time on certain things, it’s a question of how we’re going to tap into our resources to make those things happen. What are your tips and strategies for managing your time on taxes, victories or life in general?

Just One Step

Sometimes it’s as simple and complicated as just taking the next step. Our victory journeys are often lived and worked over a longer period of time than other things, simply because most of us aren’t time and financially independent enough to be able to devote 100% of our resources to the victory journey, so we have to work on it as life allows. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t dream or shouldn’t make plans, those are important, but to recognize how important it is to know what next step we should take, and some alternatives or other things we could work on, should life allow.

Knowing the next step or step options means that when you have an opportunity to work on your victories you know exactly what you can dive into. It also often helps build excitement and interest so that when you do have the opportunity to work on your victories you’ll be motivated and focused and able to maximize the opportunity when you get it. Knowing the next step also helps to take off the table many of the excuses you might try to use to avoid doing something, or helps you not give in to distraction, and reminds you that when you conquer that step you can move on to other ones.

So what one next step do you need to take in your victories? Focus on accomplishing just that one step today. Hopefully it’s a step that once taken will give you a sense of satisfaction and show visible progress towards your victory. Even if you don’t see big results you’ll know that you’re one step closer to victory.

Leap for Victory

Do you often say that if you only had a little more time you’d be able to make progress on your victories? Well, today is the day! Today is Leap Day, the one bonus day we get every 4 years. Leap Day isn’t something you exactly wait for like you might wait for Black Friday/Cyber Monday or some of the other really big sale days, 4 years is a long time to wait to get an extra 24 hours. So it’s not frequent enough to depend on it, but all the same it’s an opportunity that should not be overlooked.

Maybe you can’t devote the whole day to your victory journey, many people worked today because it’s a weekday, but maybe this extra day of work gives you a little more financial support to put toward your victories. Or maybe this extra day means that this weekend you’ll have more time to devote to your victory work because you were able to do other stuff today that you would have done then. Or maybe today is just an ordinary day like any other day which means that you do your usual work on your victory journey and gain bonus time working on it and get a little closer to success. And of course if you’re able to use this whole day for your current victory work, it’s certainly something to celebrate!

One of the many things I’ve learned from working victory journeys is how important it is to not overlook blessings and gifts and to not waste opportunities that come your way. Sometimes missed opportunities reappear and other times you find out that missing that opportunity was an OK or even good thing. But most of the time when an opportunity comes along when we’re working on something as important and focused as our victory journeys it’s best to leap right on it, because like Leap Day you may not get another chance at it for a very long time. So whether today is your day or you take a day at some other point throughout the year, what will you do with this bonus day we get in 2024?