I’m the first to admit that nothing I do is ever good enough for myself.
I constantly have goals, meet them, and immediately move on to the next thing without taking even a moment to acknowledge my success.
For example, for a long time while practicing double unders, I could only do 15 in a row. There was something about that number that no matter how hard I tried, I just could never get past it. This went on for a couple of years.
So when one day I finally got 28 double unders in a row, I should have been ecstatic. Instead, the first thought that went through my head wasn’t one of happiness—it was of disappointment.
I didn’t congratulate myself. I didn’t even take a second to allow myself to break into a smile. Instead, I told myself I wouldn’t really be good at double unders until I could do 50 in a row—an arbitrary number mentioned once to me by my boxing coach a couple of years ago.
So despite making a major achievement that day, rather than ending my workout feeling happy, I felt depressed.
28 wasn’t good enough. I had to get to 50.
Was this mindset helpful? No. But it’s one that I’ve dealt with my entire life, that feeling of being a failure not because I am one, but because I never take a moment to celebrate all that I’ve accomplished.
But it’s time for both of us to change that.
Take a moment to celebrate
If you never take a moment to celebrate what you’ve accomplished, you will never, ever feel good enough. Instead, you’ll feel like a failure—for life.