Moments Worth Recognition
I had a hard time coming up with something motivational to say on a Monday. I was in charge of finding and posting motivation Monday quotes for social media at a previous job. Every Monday I would wake up thinking, “Shit–what’s a motivational quote I can post that has less than 10 words?” And this morning was, “Shit–what’s a motivational thing I can talk about thats more than ten words?”
I’m not one that can look at a quote and instantly feel inspired to make a change. To find some inspiration, I resorted to scrolling through past phone conversations and saved photos. If I wasn’t one to save quotes, surely there was something else worth capturing and talking about. Upon doing so I noticed the theme of small day-to-day encounters. I call these small encounters small wins, or as Black Sheep likes to call them, tiny victories.
Now, small wins don’t always have to be a step towards a bigger goal. Small wins are moments in time that deserve recognition and excitement. For example:
A small win that I celebrate happens when I get home and see a lizard sitting on the stairs leading up to the front door. I get a sudden dose of welcoming cheer because it’s like having a friend greet me. On the days he’s not there, I get weirdly worried and hope the neighbor’s cat didn’t kill him (as what I assumed happened to Larry One, Larry Two and Larry Little.) BUT on the days there is a lizard friend, I’m excited that my schedule lined up with his and that the killer cat didn’t get to him. It’s a big win for Larry Three, and a small win for my day.
There isn’t a “big goal” in mind when I see a harmless reptile in passing. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not something worth recognizing and finding joy about in my day-to-day life.
Super bizarre and weird, I know. But the point is, start recognizing that equivalent of a “lizard greeting you at the door” moment in your daily routine and get so excited about it that you cant help but talk about it at your Monday morning production meeting.
With that being said, here’s the more inspirational side of this post. There’s a bunch of tiny victories taking place everywhere on any given day and I want to share a few. These small wins may have been overshadowed by depressive issues or perhaps “bigger victories.” Recognizing these small wins will make you realize this world isn’t as bad as we feel like it is, and that good things are happening:
- There’s currently a successful turtle under bridge on a busy Wisconsin street. After its first year of being up, the infamous reptile death road has seen an 85% decrease in turtle deaths. Even better, there were no baby turtles amongst those casualties!
- There’s two sisters in Europe petitioning against McDonald’s and Burger King to stop putting plastic toys in their kid’s meals. Seems like an expected proposal for the typical environmentalist that comes to mind. But these two sisters are 7 and 9 years old! It’s not going to eliminate one-time-use plastic all together, but its a small win in the right direction. Recognize it and get excited about it.
- 1.6 billion seedlings are planted annually in the U.S. With my calculations that equates to an average of 4,383,562 seedlings being planted today!
- More than 100 new signs for scientific terminology became certified words in British Sign Language! This is all thanks to a deaf university student, Liam McMulkin. Recognize it and be excited about it!
- The population HAS DOUBLED for one of New Zealand’s rarest birds. 150 orange-fronted parakeet chicks hatched this season! It’s not enough to take it them off the critically endangered species list, but again, its a small win in the right direction!
- And lastly, today is national chicken wing and lasagna day. That’s another small win to recognize and be excited about! It’s an excuse to eat two food favorites that would never appear on the same menu together.
The thing about all these small wins is that they feel like big wins once you have recognized them and are excited about them.