How small improvements can provide motivation
I am now two months into my goal this year of embracing life with curiosity and experimentation to gain greater connection. In some ways, this is a more abstract goal than other years and but I am definitely noticing changes within myself in two key ways:
I am saying yes to more things that I might have passed on before
I am questioning my thoughts and feelings much more than I previously had
I still have a long way to go but seeing this improvement gives me the motivation to keep pushing forward even though it is definitely challenging at times. This is one of the reasons why taking time out to review your progress towards your goal each month is critical to ongoing success. Without taking the time to review you may not notice the progress because it is small. But progress, no matter how small, represents movement towards your end goal and should be acknowledged. Here are some reasons why small improvements can give you motivation:
Sense of accomplishment – each small improvement gives a sense of accomplishment, which can help to boost confidence and motivate you to continue working towards your goal.
Reinforcement of behavior – even small improvements reinforces the behavior that led to the improvement, making it more likely that you will continue to engage in that behavior in the future.
Positive feedback loop – small improvements can create a positive feedback loop, where the sense of accomplishment from one improvement motivates you to seek out more improvements, leading to further progress.
You can break your large goal into more manageable and achievable steps so it is easier to notice your positive progress. This can make the goal seem less overwhelming and more achievable, which can in turn provide motivation to keep working towards it.
So if you haven’t reviewed your goal progress yet this year, take five minutes today to do so and use this process to help motivate you to stay on or get back on track.
You can read my monthly review for February here.
Have a great weekend!
Nic