By Deborah Ugoiwa
I can’t be the only one who dwells on the things I haven’t done, who feels the sting when plans go awry. Whether it’s wanting to study more but only managing a short session, getting just two hours of sleep yet still showing up, or planning to tackle the laundry but can’t even manage to crawl out of bed. Maybe it’s wanting to feel ‘back to normal’ as a new parent, only to realise progress is slower than you hoped or the overwhelming feeling that you’re behind and can’t seem to stay on top of things. We all long to do more than time and circumstances allow. Sometimes we can’t handle every aspect of life, and it rarely goes perfectly, but even when it doesn’t, the small things we do manage still matter. In this article, we’ll be mastering the art of celebrating small wins.
A small win is any small step or accomplishment towards a bigger goal. It could be completely one difficult task, going on a short walk or finally washing that one cup that’s been judging you from your bedside table. While these wins might appear insignificant in the grand scheme of things, they actually have a significant impact when acknowledged and celebrated. You can celebrate a small win in any way you choose. It could be taking a five-minute break or ticking off that task on your to-do list with great gusto, but what truly matters is how you frame it. Instead of thinking ‘I only got this done,’ try shifting to ‘in spite of everything, I still managed to do this.’ Even recognising the quiet victory of simply making it through the day, on your most productive days or your barely-holding-on ones, reshapes your relationship with progress.
All that said, how does any of this actually help? In addition to motivation, celebrating small wins can genuinely make a difference to your mental health, because it pushes back against some of the thinking patterns found in depression and anxiety. One of the
hallmark features is the ‘all-or-nothing’thinking. The belief that anything short of a major accomplishment doesn’t count. When someone acknowledges even a small achievement, it disrupts this pattern by providing concrete evidence that progress is actually happening, which helps reduce feelings of failure and hopelessness.
At the same time, small wins ease anxiety by making large goals feel less overwhelming. Anxiety often intensifies when tasks seem too big or unmanageable. Focusing on small successes reframes challenges into manageable pieces. This reduces the sense of threat, diminishes avoidance, and helps the mind approach tasks with more calmness and confidence. Along with this, celebrating small moments of progress aids emotional regulation and mitigates the onset of a colossal crash-out.
In the end, celebrating small wins will not magically transform your life overnight, but it does make the hard days a bit softer and the good days a bit brighter. And if a tiny moment of progress is enough to shift your mindset, calm your nerves or lift your mood even slightly, then maybe those small wins weren’t so small after all.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: NOBODY HAS IT ALL FIGURED OUT, LEAST OF ALL ME (EXAM SEASON STRESS HAS KICKED IN), KEEP GOING!