Episode 283
Small Wins, Big Boost: How Celebrating Helps Us Keep Going
When life feels tight or difficult, it’s easy to focus on what’s not going right. In this episode, we talk about how celebrating small wins—even the silly, ridiculous ones—can support motivation, build self-compassion, and help us practice progress over perfection.
We share real-life examples (like Shannon’s surprise “lip balm shot” into the trash, a stress-free elevator ride, and surviving a truly unpleasant parking garage) and explore why non-zero effort matters. The more we notice what’s going right, the more we can create a little ease and momentum—especially when we’re not finishing everything all at once.
What We Talk About
- 00:38 — Why it helps to celebrate little things when life feels tight or difficult
- 01:29 — Shannon’s “lip balm shot” into the trash—and celebrating it like a center-court basket
- 02:46 — Celebrating the absence of a problem: a non-stop elevator ride when a dog encounter could have been stressful
- 03:40 — Noticing when things go as expected—and letting that count as a win
- 05:30 — Small wins as a “buffer” that helps us handle obstacles without getting knocked down as far
- 06:00 — The parking garage story: building in extra time to reduce stress, then celebrating “nothing bad happened”
- 07:10 — When progress doesn’t “count” because we didn’t finish—remembering non-zero effort matters
- 10:38 — The motivation myth: believing we have to be hard on ourselves to keep going
- 11:53 — Anchoring feeling good to progress: celebrating small wins as a way to rewire the pattern
- 16:22 — Holding two truths: celebrating small wins while still caring about what’s happening in the world
Key Takeaways
- Small wins support progress over perfection: When things feel hard, noticing what did go right helps us step out of the “nothing is enough” mindset.
- Non-zero effort is real progress: If you took one step—even a small one—it counts, even if the whole thing isn’t finished yet.
- Self-compassion fuels motivation: Being hard on ourselves can make action harder. Celebrating success (even tiny success) makes it easier to keep going.
- Small wins create a buffer for tough moments: When we’re already a little “buoyed up,” setbacks don’t knock us down as far.
- Celebration isn’t silly—it’s practical: Cheering yourself on can help reinforce the habit of taking action and build momentum over time.
The Bottom Line
Celebrating small wins isn’t about pretending everything is fine—it’s about giving yourself a practical boost when life is hard. When we practice noticing what’s going right (including the “nothing went wrong” moments), we feel better. And when we feel better, it’s easier to take action, stay motivated, and keep choosing progress over perfection.
Listener Action: This week, choose one small win each day—something you usually wouldn’t count—and name it out loud (to yourself or someone else). Then take five seconds to actually celebrate it.
- YouTube link - Click here to watch the conversation on YouTube!
Want More Like This? (Related Episodes)
Episode 2: Rewards A true back-catalog throwback on rewarding yourself for progress (not perfection)—and how celebrating steps along the way helps you stay motivated (without the “I have to suffer to succeed” vibe).
41: Can It Be Too Easy? If you tend to dismiss wins that feel “too easy” (or too small to count), this episode is a great reminder that ease is allowed—and that letting things be easier can help you keep moving.
Episode 170: Give Yourself Credit If you tend to move the goalposts and only feel “done” when everything is finished, this episode is a gentle nudge to notice what you’ve already done—and to practice giving yourself that internal pat on the back.
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Transcript
I'll take the win for the smallest of things, like tossing a crumpled up piece of paper into the wastebasket and not missing.
Shannon Wilkinson:Hey, there. Welcome to getting to Good Enough. I'm Shannon Wilkinson.
Janine Adams:And I'm Janine Adams. We're here for practical and fun conversations about living with more ease and way less stress.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yep. We're all about embracing progress over perfection. So grab a tasty beverage, and let's get started. Hey, Janine.
Janine Adams:Hey, Shannon. How you doing?
Shannon Wilkinson:I'm all right. How are you?
Janine Adams:I'm all right, too.
Shannon Wilkinson:We were just talking about how it can be helpful to celebrate little things that you might not normally celebrate, especially when things feel a little bit tight. Difficult.
Janine Adams:Right. It's so easy to focus on what's not going right, especially when things are feeling difficult.
And there's often lots of tiny little things that do go right that we. We don't even acknowledge. And I love acknowledging that stuff. I was telling you that my husband makes fun of me because I will.
I will take the win for the smallest of things, like tossing a crumpled up piece of paper into the wastebasket and not missing. Yeah. Well, good jolt to the day.
Shannon Wilkinson:Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I have to tell you, I lost my mind the other night.
Like, I mean, I completely lost it because I was, like, standing in our bedroom, and I had a lip balm, and as a joke, I took it and turned and just threw it as hard as I could towards the garbage can. As a joke. Like, it was like, oh, this lip balm's horrible. And I took it and threw it, and I made it in the garbage can.
Janine Adams:Did you raise your fists in the air?
Shannon Wilkinson:Oh, my God. I celebrated. Like, I made a basket from the center court. Like, you know, like, it was.
I'd completely lost my mind and then wanted to relive it several times over.
Janine Adams:Did you try? Did you do it again? No.
Shannon Wilkinson:I mean, just in my mind, just talking about it. Was there no way I could repeat that?
Janine Adams:Was Mike appropriately impressed? He was. And I hope your kitty cat wasn't anywhere nearby, because that was.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah, she was not in the room. Cause that would have terrified her. I don't think I would have done it if she had been in the room.
Janine Adams:Right. Oh, that's so funny. But that's a great example of taking the win, celebrating those small victories.
And sometimes for me, it's noticing the absence of problem that feels like a win. Like, today, Vix and I went for a walk, as we always do, and I commented to him at the end, when we got back Back up to the 35th floor that we had.
Non stop elevator, round trip, non stop. And with Bix, sometimes if a dog gets on the elevator, it becomes stress.
Shannon Wilkinson:Stressful.
Janine Adams:So it's like, yes, we did. I mean, hadn't. Wasn't an achievement. We had nothing to do with it. Right. I. I had nothing to do with it.
But I like just noticing those happy things that, you know, that, that are. That are nice when they happen, even when it's literally nothing. Yeah, that happened.
Shannon Wilkinson:Well. And I. And I feel like things going as expected is also worth recognizing. You know that.
Janine Adams:Yeah, yeah. Especially if what you're expecting is something good.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah.
Janine Adams:Right.
Shannon Wilkinson:But I think what that does is it kind of primes you to see those things, to look for them, and, and it helps you feel good. And the better you feel, the easier it is for you to do other things, to, you know, accomplish other things that you want to accomplish.
Janine Adams:The better you feel, the better you feel. And that in and of itself is enough. Right? Yeah. That's a great perspective. I mean, we want life to move smoothly.
And if recognizing when it does is part of helping it move smoothly, that's fantastic. Yeah. I mean, and I like to focus on the things in daily life that make me feel good. Like, I love the interactions I have with people in my building.
I think I joked that turned out my hobby is talking to people in the elevator. Not know that. And I really love it.
And so when I have a particularly nice interaction and it just makes me feel so good and I like, I like noticing that. So there's so many opportunities for that sort of thing in my life because. Yeah. Of where we're living now.
It's making me smile to think of all the things we could acknowledge in life to make us feel good. Like delicious apple like that. When you get the apple that actually tastes really good instead of crystalline. Yeah. Yeah. It's a nice thing.
Shannon Wilkinson:I know. It just sort of sets you up to. I don't know, I feel like just have a life with more ease when you notice these things.
Like, it sort of buoys you up a little bit.
So when you know, something doesn't go as planned or, you know, you have sort of an unforeseen obstacle or something, you're already up a little higher and it might not take you down as far.
Janine Adams:Yeah. Like a different way of building a buffer.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah.
Janine Adams:Yeah. And I think if just occurred to me, I went to the doctor yesterday.
It's a newly built hospital and with an outrageously unpleasant parking garage, especially for A newly built hospital. It's horrible. And so I built in a lot of time so that I wouldn't stress out in the parking garage. I still stressed out, but I, I had no problems.
And when I, when I got it and I had plenty of time then to like find the doctor and all the things. And then when I was leaving the parking garage, I thought to myself, I survived this parking garage without any really bad thing happening.
And that felt like an achievement like, like I'll have to go back there for a year and I'll remember that when I go back. But a big part of that was not achievement. Unlocked survived the SLU hospital parking garage.
But having that not being under time pressure really took a big part of the stress away. Still like you take your life in your hands there, but going to the doctor.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah, yeah. And there's all these day to day things that I think are nice to celebrate.
But I think the other thing, and I know this happens to me a lot is when I make small progress on something, I don't feel like it counts because I didn't finish the thing.
Janine Adams:Right.
Shannon Wilkinson:And I often forget that a non zero effort, you know, any amount of effort is good and is worth doing.
Janine Adams:And that's one reason I like writing stuff down, tasks and things so that I have that checking off. Right. That, right. That acknowledgement that that thing happened.
Even if it was just the first phone call in a long series to resolve a problem or something like that. Or I have in my bullet journal I what I call habits and highlights page where for each day of the month I have a habit that I'm.
Or an activity I'm trying to do. And I check it off. Right. And I'll put. I just made one yesterday forever. I put the tiniest things on there to get.
For example, I'm just going to embarrass myself and tell that one of the things that I have on there is wash my face twice. Because I hate washing my face. And so. And I want to do it twice a day. And so it definitely got me washing my face last night.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah. Cause then you get to like I.
Janine Adams:Wanted to check it off and it's a little reminder. And then, and then when I checked it off, like yes, little, little achievement. Even though it's a minuscule achievement.
Shannon Wilkinson:Right.
Janine Adams:But so I, for me anyway. Cause I do like to write stuff down. Writing them down in some way helps reinforce that.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah. Yeah. And I've definitely been known to maybe get some things done that aren't on my list. And Adding them to my list so I can't cross them off.
Like writing it in and immediately crossing it off.
Janine Adams:Well, and if it's in, I mean that's fine even if it's on a scrap of paper. But if it's in a bullet journal or something that you're keeping, then it's actually a record. But yeah, it's definitely crossing off.
And I just curious for you because I know you use todoist. Do you, will you do the same thing with typing? You'll type in the thing and cross it off?
Shannon Wilkinson:No, because I. How I've been using todoist because I do that. And a bullet journal is todoist sort of holds my routines, you know, things that repeat.
And it also is sort of a repository for things that I need to do in the future or things I don't want to forget. And so something on there is going to get transferred into my bullet journal when it's time to do it or I decide to do it.
Janine Adams:Yeah, yeah. So it's the bullet journal where you would write down the thing you did and then cross it off. Yeah. Yes, I totally get that.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yes.
Janine Adams:Yeah.
And I'll write lots of little not like tasks, but just like things I, that I did for the record in the bullet journal and I will write things down just for the accomplishment, the recording of the accomplishment which nobody will ever see besides me. Right, right, right.
Shannon Wilkinson:Well, and I think, I mean I know I see this a lot with clients and I think I probably used to do this too is fall into this trap of thinking that you have to be hard on yourself to motivate you to keep doing something.
And that if you feel good about making progress but not necessarily completing something, that somehow you're not going to be motivated to keep going.
Janine Adams:That's unfortunate thinking.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yes. But it's not uncommon.
Janine Adams:Right? Yeah.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah.
And it, and you know, like we were talking about earlier, it makes it harder to do stuff when you feel bad and, and you know, you're sort of self flagellating or whatever or talking bad to yourself. It makes it harder to take action. It makes it harder to move forward.
It makes it harder to complete things because you have anchored this feeling bad to doing stuff and so then there's no way out.
Janine Adams:Right. Yeah, that's a bad place to be.
Shannon Wilkinson:Right.
And so anchoring the feeling good to it by maybe feeling a little ridiculous when you start, but really celebrating this progress small wins all of those things then you know, rewires your nervous system.
Janine Adams:Wow. It's powerful stuff.
Shannon Wilkinson:Absolutely.
Janine Adams:It's not just silly, it's powerful.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Janine Adams:I mean, like. Yeah, I'm sorry, I was thinking about your chapstick. I mean, for some people, just getting.
Throwing the chapstick away instead of leaving it right then is an achievement worthy of. Of note. And then if you make a three point shot doing it, then, yeah, all the better. Yeah.
And I was thinking about, like, the things like throwing stuff away or putting stuff away that are small, but if you cheer yourself on and you do it regularly, then it all becomes so much easier as well. So another thing on my bullet journal list is put clothes away. Because I have a tendency of always. You've heard me say this a million times.
To take off my clothes and just put them on the dresser when it's.
Shannon Wilkinson:Time to go to bed.
Janine Adams:Cause I'm so tired. But I'm trying as it's. We're recording this on February 3rd, and as of February 2nd, I'm doing a great job of doing that.
Shannon Wilkinson:Since we're celebrating.
Janine Adams:That reminds me that I had.
I was at a friend's apartment on January 3rd, and he offered me a drink and he said, I'm having a dry January 3rd, but would you like a glass of water or some mocktail? He said, would you like something to drink? I'm having a dry January 3rd.
Shannon Wilkinson:And I said, just that day?
Janine Adams:Yeah, he said, I had a dry January 2nd and a dry January 1st. And then I saw him at the end of January and he said, I had a dry January. But he only. He just did it one day at a time.
Shannon Wilkinson:One day at a time.
Janine Adams:That's right.
Shannon Wilkinson:And they say.
Janine Adams:That's right. I don't think he was like working on the 12 step or anything, but. But I love that. A drive. January 3rd. So I'm going to.
I'm going to celebrate the fact I put my clothes away last night and then hope to do it again tonight.
Shannon Wilkinson:So you had. I don't know what the word is. Orderly. February 2nd.
Janine Adams:That's right. Exactly. Orderly. Groundhog Day.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yes. And may you repeat it today.
Janine Adams:Yes, exactly. And when I do tonight, which I'm pretty confident I will because of this conversation, I will celebrate it and I'll think of it.
Shannon Wilkinson:Oh, good.
Janine Adams:Yeah.
Shannon Wilkinson:Oh, I mean, I think about, you know, when I think sort of about the psychology of this, it's like, you know, I don't think you've really gotten into games on your phone much. That's not really your thing. A little bit. Yeah.
Janine Adams:That's. I have one game I play yeah.
Shannon Wilkinson:I'm gonna guess that one of the things that makes it appealing is the feeling of success over and over and over again and not just pointing out your mistakes.
Janine Adams:Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Shannon Wilkinson:Duolingo has absolutely unlocked this. And it celebrates. I mean, you open it up, it's like excited you're there, you do something.
It's excited that you just, you know, spent one minute, you move up in the league, and it celebrates you. And they just added a new thing at the end of the week.
There's this whole animation thing about who the top three, three people are with the names and stuff. And it's like, well, now I want that.
Janine Adams:Yeah.
Shannon Wilkinson:I never cared about being in the top three before, but now I find I might.
Figuring out ways to do that for yourself, I think is really, really nice and, you know, helps support you when things are a little tougher than normal.
Janine Adams:Yeah. Yeah. I think that's great advice. I hope if everybody did that, we'd have a happier world, I think.
Shannon Wilkinson:Yeah. Yeah.
And I think that, you know, with things in the world being as awful as they are right now, being able to sort of hold both those things, like it's okay to celebrate these small things in your life and then also be concerned about these other things that are going on and that might even help you take action to do something so you feel like you're making a difference.
You know that if a small action counts and is considered success and you can celebrate it, then you're more likely to do that rather than feeling like it's, there are so many big problems and there's nothing I could do, and doing nothing like we talked about a couple of weeks ago. Well, we would love to hear from you, our listeners. How do you like to celebrate your little successes?
GT. That's:You can send us an email to GettingToGoodEnoughmail.com until next time, this is Shannon Wilkinson in Portland, Oregon, and Janine Adams.
Janine Adams:In St. Louis, Missouri.
Shannon Wilkinson:And we hope that Good Enough is getting easier for you. Thanks for joining us on Getting to Good Enough. We hope you heard something that makes your life just a little bit easier.
If you did, leave us a review or share this with someone who's looking for their own version of good Enough.
Janine Adams:Thanks for listening. See you soon.
Shannon Wilkinson:Woohoo. We did a whole episode.
Janine Adams:Yes.
