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Seeing success is small steps: Why the key to the future is in the present

The vision is always clear. It may change from time to time, but the big picture is never hard to grasp. At times we can almost, to the letter, describe where we see ourselves. The cars, the experiences, the places to live — they all make perfect sense to us — always have.

It’s the “how,” however, that always leaves us in question.

No matter what heights you’re attempting to reach in your career, you’ll never find a clear guide to point you in the right direction. Even if you’re pursuing a career in medicine, there’s no manual to how to go about it best for you.

It’s in these times of uncertainty that life gets the most frustrating. After exhausting efforts, resources and patience, wanting to throw in the towel is an understandable emotion.

The process is currently a buzzword and popular positive message to pedal, but it’s much more difficult a concept to practice than preach. The process may take years, sacrifices unforeseen, and is humbling at the end of the day. When that vision you’ve had for years doesn’t become your reality when you want it, you’ll feel unsuccessful.

This is why we must see success in small victories: because successes happen every day and we struggle with feeling accomplished when we ignore them. The big picture is important, but we get there by breaking it down into daily digestibleĀ goals.

When we end every day knowing we’ve done everything we can to get closer to our dreams, we’ll live much happier lives.

Day by day

Trying to tackle the behemoth that is our dreams in one sitting is overwhelming and an absolute poor choice of execution. While you want to be all in and invested, you also want to be tactical and practical, too. That is why we should break down what can be done for the big picture in 24-hour segments at a time.

It takes intention, discipline, and focus, but it’s nothing short of what bodybuilders do for meal prep. With a planner, calendar or even phone reminders, we can give ourselves objectives to carry out every day that inch us closer to our big dream.

It not only leaves us feeling accomplished at the end of the day, but it ensures that we’re not being idol with our free time.

No matter where you are in life or how far away you believe yourself to be, there is always something you can do in the now to get to where you want to go in the future.


Taking in the now

Another advantage of seeing success in small steps is that it allows us to stop and smell the roses from time to time. A con to ambition is that it can get you stuck being fixated ahead. Yet, today is magical in its own right.

Not one second of our life should be dismissed because it diminishes the value each second holds. Everything we’ve done up until today has led us to today, so being uncontent in where we are — in what today holds — subsequently throws everything in the past away.

No matter how dark and bleak the situation, there is something to be taken away from and learned from the present. It’s up to us to make the most of it.


Enduring the marathon

Rome was not built in a day. And as cliche and trite a saying that is, it’s a concept that we long forget when chasing our loftiest of dreams.

Anything worth getting was hard fought to had. Knowing this, we should train our minds to endure for marathons, not races. Because even when initial success is achieved, new goals and bigger ambitions will fill it’s void.

Seeing success in small victories allows us to be realistic about where we need to be and it allows us to gauge what needs to be done to get there quicker, or if it’s a path we even want to stay on. Every day you can be successful. Success isn’t just the Super Bowl — it’s always the win it took to get there.

It’s up to us to determine how to make each day a W.