Celebrate Your Small Wins
By the time you’re reading this, I will have completed the 2024 Honolulu Marathon. "Michael" and "marathon" are two words I never imagined would end up in the same sentence—unless that sentence was, “Michael will never run a marathon.” But here we are. I can proudly say that I’m a marathoner.
This marathon training journey has been incredibly insightful for me. Over the past few years, I haven’t done much that surprised me. I’ve stuck with working out, climbed the corporate ladder, and enjoyed trips with friends, but none of those experiences veered off the track of my “plan.” These were all things I expected and assumed I would do.
Then, somehow, my friends convinced me to start running—an activity I never thought I would pursue. I never found enjoyment in it like others did. I never experienced a runner’s high, struggled to run long distances, and was plagued by excruciating shin splints. But after moving to D.C., I thought, “Why not?” and decided to give running a try with my friends.
It turns out that, like most things in life, when you attempt something and realize you’re doing it completely wrong, you tend to find less fulfillment in the experience. However, once I learned to correct my running form, train with intent, and invest in proper running shoes, I began to see incremental gains for the first time in my life. I remember one Sunday when I was getting ready to go on a run with Sean and our buddy Alex, we decided to knock out 7 miles. 7 miles?! I had never run 5 miles before, let alone 7. But I did it. It was hard, but I accomplished it. That day was eye-opening for me; I achieved something I had long told myself I couldn’t.
Then something really cool happened during my marathon training—I started hitting weekly personal records (PRs). One week, I would run 10 miles for my Sunday long run, and the next week, it would be 11.2 miles. If I could run 10 miles the previous week, what was another 1.2 miles, right? The same guy who once thought he could never call himself a runner was now proudly identifying as one. I had become the type of person who chose to wake up early, brave the elements, and hit the pavement. It dawned on me: I needed to congratulate myself. I was doing something that genuinely surprised me, and I was taking for granted the very achievement I once thought impossible.
Each Sunday, when I hit a new weekly PR, I would hype myself up for the last 200-300 feet of my run. As silly as it may sound, I would literally say to myself, “Hell yes, Michael! You just ran 12 miles! You never thought you would run 12 miles, and you just did it. Keep going.” That internal dialogue genuinely fueled me and boosted my motivation. It felt as if someone else was congratulating me at the finish line of each run.
Then I started knocking out 14-mile runs, 17-mile runs, and even 20-mile runs. With each new milestone, my self-congratulations grew bigger and bigger. I began looking at GPS distances differently. If Natalie and I drove somewhere that was a 14-mile trip, I’d think to myself, “I’ve run this! No matter how much ground we cover in the car, I’ve covered the same distance on foot.” It was a new sense of pride I had never felt before.
I share all this to remind you that sometimes we can forget how far we’ve actually come in the moment. Small wins and strides shouldn't be brushed off; that’s what Find Your 1% is all about. It’s the small daily accomplishments that stack up over time. However, these small victories can be difficult to notice, so it’s important to take a step back and view everything you’ve been doing from a 30,000-foot perspective. Be the voice that congratulates yourself. We all need that positive reinforcement to keep going because, at the end of the day, nobody will care for your goals as much as you do.
You don’t need to be someone who runs a certain number of miles to celebrate your achievements. If you typically don’t eat healthily but start substituting junk food for healthier options every other lunch, that’s a win. If you’ve never gone to the gym but have been consistently working out once or twice a week for a few weeks, that’s a win too! Celebrate the small wins so you can maintain your momentum and eventually start celebrating the big wins as well.
So make sure to be that positive voice in your head, Find Your 1%, and crush the week ahead!
- GTY Performance
