Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of celebrating small achievements, or "tiny wins," as a means to foster motivation, build emotional stamina, and pave the way for larger successes.

Abstract

The concept of celebrating tiny wins is presented as a critical strategy for achieving significant accomplishments. The author argues that recognizing and viscerally celebrating minor victories can shift one's mindset from distress to a positive attitude, reinforcing an internal motivating system. Drawing on insights from behavior scientist BJ Fogg and neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, the article suggests that emotions, not repetition, are the key drivers of habit formation and success. By attaching rewards to small action steps and consistently celebrating these efforts, individuals can develop neurocircuits that sustain motivation over time. The article also touches on the role of dopamine in reward pursuit, advocating for the celebration of progress en route to larger goals. The author uses personal examples, such as writing a book, to illustrate how breaking down tasks into manageable goals and rewarding their completion can lead to a sense of achievement and maintain momentum.

Opinions

Charles Duhigg, author of "The Power of Habit," is cited to underscore the role of small wins in creating widespread changes and forming keystone habits.
The author believes that repetition alone does not lead to habit formation or success; rather, it is the emotions associated with the process that are crucial.
Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman's research indicates that high performers excel at attaching subjective rewards to specific behaviors, focusing on small, achievable steps.
The author emphasizes the importance of a self-rewarding habit for small efforts, suggesting that this approach makes the pursuit of larger goals more purposeful.
Celebrating tiny wins is seen as a way to develop the entire physiology towards success, with dopamine playing a role not just in rewards but also in the pursuit of rewards.
The author advocates for regularly acknowledging and celebrating feelings of progress, no matter how small, to build the emotional stamina necessary for tackling bigger challenges.
The article posits that success is not a singular event but the result of a series of small wins, each contributing to the foundation of larger achievements.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Why You Should Celebrate Tiny Wins

Because they lead to big wins

“Small wins are exactly what they sound like, and are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes.” — Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit)

I just need a small win today. And more importantly, celebrate that small win viscerally. By saying “yes!” to myself with a fist pump, or, doing a high five with a friend.

The point is to feel great about the tiny win.

Just like I trained myself to feel great after writing a small section of this article. Each section was a small win followed by a celebration — an emotional high manifested by a small physical movement.

To me, these tiny celebrations naturally replace distress with a positive attitude towards taking on larger challenges.

Whether my continued efforts will lead to bigger achievements depends on how well I develop my internal motivating system which is motivated by rewards.

Big achievements are the results of our self-rewarding habit for the small efforts we make along the way.

Repetition does not form habits, big changes, or successes. Emotions do.

According to Behavior Scientist BJ Fogg, repetition is correlated with habits but does not cause habits to form. Emotions cause habit formation. The emotions you feel during or after the process of forming a behavior.

Stories of athletes, scientists, writers, artists, and people in any other profession becoming great after 5–7 years of intense training are inaccurate and incomplete.

Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman who has studied high performers like David Goggins, Lance Armstrong, Tom Bilyeu, and many others, says these individuals are very good at attaching rewards to specific behaviors in subjective ways.

“They know how to make these small, simple, physical steps in the real world that allow them to build on these reward circuitries, but they don’t get delusional about how they’re doing. They keep the end in mind but they get very micro. They move the horizon in very close,” he says.

Instead of attaching our sense of rewards towards our ultimate goal, we want to attach ourselves to the fact that we are taking action steps that are generally in the right direction.

For instance, I am writing a book at the moment. I have set a smaller goal of writing 5 pages per week. At the end of the week, I reward myself for achieving that tiny goal by doing something special like treating myself a nice beverage or taking a nice hike.

The more we reward the effort process, the better off we are at building neurocircuits that can handle challenges for an extended duration.

This is why celebrating tiny wins is crucial in developing our entire physiology towards success.

Neuroscience shows dopamine — the neurotransmitter that makes us feel good — is involved not only in rewards but also in the pursuit of rewards, which is what makes the friction and challenges we feel en route to success purposeful.

So the question we constantly want to ask ourselves is: how do I get my dopamine to work for me before I hit the goal?

“The key thing is not to go through each one of those actions day by day, but to pause for a moment after every milestone and tell yourself: I’m heading in the right direction,” explains Huberman.

Hemingway once said, “the first draft of anything is shit.” I have to keep reminding myself of this. Doing so helps me get started — my first draft, second draft, third…until it’s done.

But I make sure that I celebrate the completion of every single page and every single draft until it’s done.

There are days when I sit down to write, and my mind is literally blank. In moments like these, I have learned to tackle the challenge by setting up smaller challenges, getting them done, celebrating the small wins, and gradually moving to the next level of challenge.

I keep a thorough account of my emotions. I do my best to make sure that I am always staying on the “self-motivated” side. My emotions are the most powerful tool I have which is why I make sure I honor my “winner” emotions by regularly bringing them into existence. I set small goals, achieve them, and celebrate those tiny wins. Each one of them.

These celebrations for tiny wins develop my emotional stamina needed to willingly take on bigger challenges.

Celebrating small wins builds and powers the “smaller” muscles to take bigger challenges. Big wins are only the tip of the iceberg. They are mountain tops. A peak only stands because it is supported by humongous base layers that are much wider, bigger, and stronger.

Every time there is a feeling of progress or achievement, especially the small ones, I recognize it and celebrate immediately by breathing deep, doing a fist pump, or sharing my small win with a loved one.

If life is meant to be lived, and love is meant to be shared, then small wins are meant to be celebrated.

Success is birthed by a succession of many small wins.

Upen Singh writes about people, progress, and the future. He is interested in making lives better.

Having traveled to over 25 countries he is always seeking new adventures to learn from and share. He has an M.A. in Developmental Economics from West Virginia University.