Appreciating the progress you are making in your life is important.

Dear Dreamers,

Appreciating the progress you are making in your life is important. 

Life keeps trying to shove this lesson down my throat, but I stubbornly spit it back up every time.

It is not uncommon for the successful archetype of a person to rush past their successes without (or with minimum) celebration. You do something and you move straight on to the next thing. You want more. You are restless and want to keep going.

For as long as I can remember this has been my way of dealing with things. If I do something awesome maybe I will smile for a few seconds, but I never quite soak up the feeling of success. 

I am thinking about this particularly strongly right now because this week was the end of the first semester of my senior year, and I made it the best semester (grades-wise) of my life. Rather than just moving right on from that and focusing on semester two, I want to let my success marinate. I deserve to feel it.

I worked my ass off over the past few months to get back into the rhythm of the American school system all while trying to make my business successful and applying to colleges. It has been insane, and if I want to be able to work that hard and be that productive in the future, I should reward myself for the work I put in.

It is psychologically proven that the best way to build a habit is through positive reinforcement. If I want to habitually work this hard toward my goals, I should reward myself for doing the work. Yet, this feels so difficult, and I imagine many of you reading this feel the same thing as well.

I am trying to get into the practice of taking just a few minutes to slow down and breathe after I do something I’m proud of. This can be in the form of a meditation, a walk, or just sitting in a quiet place.

This has really helped me motivate myself to do hard things because I know there will be true calm on the other side of it.

I encourage you to try this and let me know how it goes.

The Grateful Podcast:

I have a podcast where I interview people much smarter and more qualified than me talking about how you can live a more purposeful life full of gratitude and ambition. 

I release episodes every Monday where I go over a lesson I’ve recently learned.

This Monday: 

Every other Wednesday I release an episode with a very cool guest.

This Wednesday: 

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or find the video version on YouTube.

Coaching:

If you’re ready to take action and need guidance, I’d love to help. 

I have limited space available so if you’re interested, book a free 15-minute call with me to discuss your dreams and how to start making them happen. 

You can schedule it right here: Book a Free Call

Make this week rock. Thank you so much for reading this; I’ll see you next week.

With love,

Jack