Within our society nowadays, we have created a culture that only celebrates major milestones: going viral on social media, getting that big promotion or getting a first in an essay; social media is constantly showing us the best parts of someone’s life, which can make our ordinary progresses feel insignificant; that if we aren’t doing the most, we are doing nothing at all.
Micro goals are small manageable tasks; they are steps towards a larger goal. Things like doing your bed in the morning, writing a paragraph of that essay you’ve been procrastinating, or studying for half an hour. Breaking larger goals into smaller tasks is how anyone successful got to that point; it’s not a straight path to achieve a large goal, it’s the accumulation of small consistent habits. Celebrating the small wins and romanticizing those tasks that you might be dreading is the key to consistency; once you find joy in the mundane tasks, that’s when you find yourself doing them more frequently.
To romanticize something is when we focus on the positive aspects of something or act/present something as better or more meaningful that it actually Is. The key to enjoying life and those small tasks is just that; when we turn a normal morning into a ‘peaceful morning routine’, or make studying cozier with music and candles. Essentially, the action is the same but our mindset changes. I’ve applied this concept to the gym: I used to hate the pressure to look a certain way in the gym and the competitive-feeling environment, but now I just put in my music and enjoy the fact that I am showing up for myself and staying consistent, to the point where I look forward every day to the time when I go to the gym.
Essentially, in a culture obsessed with big achievements, learning to value small victories may be one of the most powerful ways to redefine what success really means.