A Small Wins Mindset
The other day I attended a professional development day for the teachers in our county. Now, I don’t know about you, but generally I enjoy professional development opportunities if they are done well. I like to grow, and learning from experienced individuals is a great opportunity to grow. I know many of my colleagues, both current and former, do not have a growth mindset and thus do not enjoy even well-done professional development opportunities. But that’s a conversation for another day.
One of the sessions I attended was led by a former teacher of mine from 20 years ago or so. When I was in elementary school, he taught me and both of my siblings. He was a highly engaging teacher then, and let me tell you, he still can handle a room.
His session was called “The Small Wins Mindset”. It was focused on equipping staff to focus on the small wins inside and outside of the classroom. He shared some stories to help clarify the concept, and I walked away motivated and encouraged.
An example of a small wins mindset that I completely missed in the last three months was almost an exact story from that session. Mr. Harper shared a story about his physical health and some goals he has in mind, and he shared a specific one concerning bench pressing.
For the last 3 months, I have been in the gym steady 4-5 days a week. It has been a great time of discipline and prioritizing my health. I wanted to improve in some specific areas, including bench pressing, and overall feel stronger and healthier. When I started on November 2, I struggled to bench press 155lbs, though I managed. I did not really have a goal, other than to get stronger and maybe do my bodyweight. Fastforward to 2 weeks ago: I benched 205lbs, more than my body weight.
That is a huge win. But here is where I missed opportunities to encourage myself: there were plenty of small wins along the way.
You see, you don’t get from 155 to 205 overnight. It takes time and energy, days of failure, days of rest. There were points where I hit 175 and 185 and 195 that also should have been seen as wins, but I overlooked them.
If you find yourself only looking for the big wins in life, then you will be miserable. And I have found myself there a lot. The small wins along the way to the big wins cannot be overlooked; they serve as added fuel for your forward momentum.
So as I am working to make up a deficit in our family’s budget, or as I am working to improve test scores and culture at our school, or as I am working to impact the lives of young people for the better, I need to remind myself to celebrate the small wins.
Small win: making $100 in a week with doordash.
Small win: seeing a student grasp a new concept that required hard work and diligent effort.
Small win: as other classes run out of the room towards a fight in the hall, my students stay put (my favorite comment from a student in this scenario after I thanked them for not running out of class: “I’m surprised I didn’t run out there”).
This week, challenge yourself to notice 2-3 small wins each day.
“It’s the small wins on the long journey that we need in order to keep our confidence, joy and motivation alive.” ― Brendon Burchard