Small Victories

When was the last time you celebrated a well-written, well-timed email that resulted in a new client?  Or, when was the last time you handed your business card to a new contact?  These are small victories, though they may not seem like much on the surface.  These are the kind of small regular actions that will help you achieve your larger business goals over time.

Do you ever recap your week?  At the end of the week, on Friday, do you ever look back through the week to review what small victories you’ve achieved?  I realized that I rarely do this purposefully.  Recently, I’ve been spending about 10 minutes on Fridays to recap, and write down, a quick list of all the small, yet significant, victories I’ve had throughout the week.  It usually looks something like this:

• set up a complimentary sample session with a new potential coaching client
• made three new connections on LinkedIn with business owners who may need my services
• checked in briefly with a client to help keep them accountable for the action they agreed to take from our last session
• sent a follow up email to another potential client after our sample session
• had a great coaching session with a current client
• set up an appointment to meet for coffee with another coach in town who covers a different target audience and niche
• joined a local networking group
• ordered additional business cards

This kind of 10 minute exercise has been helpful in allowing me to see that I am in fact making progress in my business.  It makes me realize that I’m actually doing more than I felt I was when in the moment each day of the week.  It’s important, and crucial to our continued motivation, to be able to tangibly see our progress, which is why I suggest writing out a quick list on paper – to have it physically in front of you.

It’s important to recognize and celebrate those small victories from your day-to-day actions.  When strung together, those small victories make up the larger successes that will allow you to reach and obtain your farther reaching goals.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella