Summary

The article discusses the concept of personal success and fulfillment, emphasizing the importance of gratitude for past achievements, excitement for future prospects, and enjoyment of the present journey.

Abstract

The article "How to Know That You’re #Winning" delves into the multifaceted nature of success in life, suggesting that true winning is not just about reaching a destination but also about appreciating the progress made, anticipating future achievements, and finding joy in the ongoing process. The author reflects on the trending hashtag #YouAreWinningWhen and proposes that a healthy relationship with time, encompassing past, present, and future, is key to a well-adjusted life. The piece underscores the significance of gratitude for one's accomplishments, the motivational power of a compelling future vision, and the intrinsic value of the journey itself, regardless of the outcome. It also touches on the psychological benefits of goal-oriented progress and the importance of celebrating milestones, even as goals evolve.

Opinions

The author believes that there is no single, universal way to define success, as life offers various games and goals to pursue.
Reflecting on the past with gratitude is seen as a healthy practice, contrary to the notion of forgetting the past altogether.
The article suggests that focusing solely on the present can lead to short-term pleasure at the expense of long-term growth.
A balanced perspective on time, appreciating past achievements, being excited for the future, and enjoying the present, is presented as indicative of a well-adjusted individual.
The author cites Jordan B. Peterson to reinforce the idea that progress towards goals is crucial for positive emotions and overall well-being.
The article posits that the pursuit of goals is more important than their attainment, as it shapes one's character and sense of meaning.
It is implied that goals are dynamic and may shift over time, which is why celebrating milestones is important for maintaining motivation and satisfaction.

How to Know That You’re #Winning

If you can be grateful for how far you’ve come, excited about where you are going, and are in love with the journey, you are winning.

I’ve never been great with social media, but every now and then I like to find a good trending hashtag and see if I can come up with something interesting to say.

On April 24, I noticed one that I just had to get in on: #YouAreWinningWhen

One of the cool things of the game of life is that there’s more than one way to play. There are different goals you can pursue and games within games. This makes coming up with a universally applicable indication of success a tricky challenge.

Here’s what I came up with on that day:

I thought that was pretty good, but it could be better. I knew I was close to what I wanted to say, but hadn’t yet said it.

So I pulled out my notebook and started crafting different variations of what I thought I was trying to say. Eventually I got to this:

If you can be grateful for how far you’ve come, excited about where you are going, and are in love with the journey, you are winning.

I wasn’t trying for this, but I realized that I had solved another problem that had been on my mind: what does a healthy relationship with time look like?

You often hear that you should live in the present (I agree with that) and that you should forget the past. Wait a minute, forget the past? That doesn’t sound like it’s always healthy.

There are benefits that come from focusing on the past, present, and future, and there are drawbacks to each as well, including the present. If you focus on the negative aspects of the past, you’ll be miserable in the present and won’t be able to move on into the future. If you are lost in your desires for the future, you won’t appreciate what is right in front of you. And if you only think about the present, you will choose short term fleeting pleasure and comfort over long-term growth.

A well-adjusted person has a healthy relationship with all aspects of time, past, present, and future.

This statement gives you a concise picture of what that relationship might look like.

Grateful for How Far You’ve Come

Sometimes progress is slow.

Either it’s objectively slow, or it’s slow relative to your expectations. Either way, it can be discouraging.

It’s all too easy in these moments to forget all that you have accomplished and how far you have come.

It’s healthy to look back with gratitude and be thankful for the actions that you’ve taken to improve your life and the results that they have produced.

I’ve written before that the past is best seen as a wellspring of gratitude, and for good reason. There is so much good that has happened to you, for you, and through you.

The Past is Dead, but Don’t Bury It

The Past is a Wellspring of Gratitude

medium.com

Excited About Where You Are Going

Do you have a compelling vision of a better future?

It’s difficult to push yourself to do the kinds of things that will improve your future situation, but it’s a lot easier when you have a compelling vision of a better future pulling you forward.

Not only that, but making progress toward an important goal is critical to your emotional well-being.

As the psychologist Jordan B. Peterson says in his bestselling book 12 Rules For Life:

We experience much of our positive emotion in relation to goals. We are not happy, technically speaking, unless we see ourselves progressing

Make goals, make progress, love your life.

In Love With the Journey

It’s important to make goals, but it’s also important to find meaning in pursuing them, not merely in attaining them.

Achieving the goal is not as important at becoming the kind of person that can achieve big goals.

Not only that, but achieving a big goal may not mean anything at all to you when the time finally comes. You might have a goal of racking up a million dollars, but I bet you by the time you get close you’ll have a new milestone in mind.

Your goals can become a moving target. This is one of the reasons it’s so important to take the time to be grateful and celebrate milestones.

Conclusion

Your journey is your own and your path will be unique, but here’s the general guideline you should keep with you:

If you can be grateful for how far you’ve come, excited about where you are going, and are in love with the journey, you are winning.

This is the twenty-third in a series based on my article 30 Lessons About Life You Should Learn Before Turning 30. Shoutout to Dr. Christine Bradstreet 🌴 for the idea to turn the post into an in-depth series.