Here’s what I did today:
- I got out of bed.
- I took a (cold) shower.
- I drank a kale cacao smoothie.
- I practiced trombone.
- I made and ate my lunch.
- I practiced trombone some more.
- I took out the trash.
- I gathered my dirty clothes and got them ready to take to the laundry.
- I took my clothes to the laundry and washed/dried them.
- While I was waiting for my laundry to finish I walked to a nearby Amazon locker and picked up a mini USB to USB cable that I’d ordered.
- I came home and put away my clean clothes.
- I made my bed.
- I made and ate dinner.
- I made some phone calls.
- I went to bed.
None of these things might seem like very large things. There is nothing momentous on my list. I think of them as ‘small wins’.
For me, for this day, these small wins are enough.
Small wins are important. Small wins build momentum. Small wins help strengthen new and better habits.
At any point during this day I could have chosen differently.
I could have chosen not to practice but practicing means that I’m much more prepared for the short run of a show I begin rehearsing this weekend. I could have chosen not to drink my smoothie but that means less nutrition to fuel my day.
I could have put off doing my laundry. I’ve definitely done that in the past more times than I can count. In NYC ‘doing laundry’ isn’t as simple as dropping down to your comfortable suburban basement and throwing in a load to wash and dry. ‘Doing laundry’ in NYC means packing up your clothes in whatever bags you can carry on your back and/or your hands and catching the subway or bus eighteen blocks to the public laundromat. Believe me it can really suck, especially in bad weather.
But today was a pretty day. Tomorrow they were calling for rain so I decided to do my laundry. There was nothing heroic in this, and you could definitely say it was just common sense but it was a small win nonetheless.
While I was out I picked up that cable. It was close by the laundromat so I didn’t have to make a second trip. It was a cable that I need for an upcoming project and that’s one less thing I have to do to make that project a reality.
I’m writing most of this essay sitting in the park in the sunshine on an unseasonably warm day. That’s something that’s a rare treat in NYC in February. That’s definitely a win.
Small wins build confidence. Small wins move the needle if only just a little and even if the progress isn’t immediately noticeable.
We want every day to be amazing. Full of bright and shiny memories.
For today I’m grateful for my small wins. Tonight I’ll go to sleep with the hope that I can have more small wins tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that.