The year 2020 is only just begun, but for some of us it already feels like we’re far behind. Maybe, you’ve set big goals for yourself for this year. You want to climb the mountain from where you are to where you want to be.

Getting caught up in how far you have left to go can be overwhelming, though. Enough so that it makes it difficult to push forward up that mountain.

There is a better way to climb the mountain.

If the journey seems long, know that you don’t have to wait until you’ve reached the end to celebrate how far you’ve come.

You can pause now and feel gratitude for the distance you’ve traveled. If you’ve come quite a ways, celebrate that. If you’ve only begun the journey, celebrate the first steps. And if you’ve just now decided you’re going to take a journey, celebrate that decision!

I am reminded of a hiking trip my oldest son and I went on while he was earning his hiking merit badge. We were living in Asheville, North Carolina. My son was in much better shape than I was, and he was eager to finish the ten-mile hike along this section of the Appalachian Trail.

In hindsight, I can relate to his eagerness to reach our destination. I was, at the time, always focused on the horizon, on the destination, rather than the place I was on the trail. I was eager to reach six-figures, seven-figures and on up.

There was no time to rest. I had to get there!

The frenzy to arrive is a common one. Psychologists call it the dopamine-seeking-reward loop. If you’ve ever lost track of time scrolling through social media, you’ve been in that loop. One minute turns into ten. Ten turns into thirty. Before you know it, an hour has passed, and you don’t remember exactly where you’ve been.

My son’s eagerness to reach our destination was a similar loop. Only this one involved hiking along a mountain pass. With steep inclines, tired muscles, and sore feet. (The latter two, mine.)

He was young and fit. With no extra weight to carry, he was like the Energizer bunny. He kept going and going.

My batteries, though, were depleted. I needed a break, so I took one.

When I rested, I discovered something beautiful. It wasn’t just that it felt good to rest my tired feet. We were on a ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A lovely part of the world. Elevation 5,200 feet.

Across the valley below, I could see the Glassmine Falls. A branch of the Swannanoa River fell 200 feet to the valley floor.

It was in that moment, I realized if I hadn’t stopped to take a break, I would have missed a beautiful sight. There are no trails that lead to the Falls. It was only from that vista on the other side of the valley that I had the chance to witness that beauty.

I’ve often wondered, since then, how many times I’ve been in too much of a rush to appreciate the beauty around me.

I have also come to realize that always being on, like the Energizer bunny, doesn’t give us a chance to recharge. To kick up our feet and enjoy the moment. Since then, I’ve become much more intentional about taking breaks.

In the past, it was my practice to work until I dropped. Late days. Long weeks. Little time off. I thought that was what was necessary to reach the point at which I could finally stop and celebrate. The thing I discovered is if you never stop, you never get the chance to celebrate. You’re too tired and burned out.

Today, I build firm boundaries into my business. A hard stop at 6 pm. Weekends off.

Before I started that practice, I wondered how I would get everything done if I didn’t work more. What I came to realize was it’s hard to push the boulder up the hill if you never take a break.

It’s also hard to celebrate how far you’ve come when you’re too tired to keep your head up.

Stopping to celebrate isn’t just about feeling good. As important as that is, stopping to celebrate also helps you prepare for what’s next. To wake up the next day refreshed and ready to face another day.

When you finish the day feeling good and you start the day feeling good, the time in between is so much easier to navigate. If the day is a success, then you have the opportunity to celebrate what has been accomplished.

Small celebrations are much more plentiful than grand celebrations. Birthdays and holidays happen only once a year. If you celebrate the distance you’ve covered during the day, you can have a small celebration every day. Maybe even in the middle of the day.

We often want to be so much further ahead than we are. I know I’m guilty of this. It’s only the end of the first month of 2020, yet I already feel like I’m far behind the schedule I’ve set for myself this year. Cortisol wells up inside as the stress builds.

The cortisol, like a child in the back seat on a long trip, cries, “Are we there, yet? We’ll never make it if you don’t hurry!”

That nagging feeling can be a bit of a downer! Hard to keep pushing forward like that.

If I take a step off the trail, though, I see there’s a different way to look at this situation.

With one month complete, the year is only 8-1/3 percent complete. (Numbers guy, here.) That means I still have nearly 92 percent of the year to go.

I have a choice to make. I can feel the stress about having the bulk of my vision incomplete, or I can celebrate where I’m at. I can stop on the mountain trail and acknowledge how far I have come.

You don’t have to wait to celebrate.

Reaching your destination, whether that is a ten mile hike along the Appalachian Trail, or going from zero dollars in profits to six figures in profits, is a process that takes time. While it helps to look at the overall picture, it also helps to look at the individual steps along the way.

Last Saturday, I ran across the Narrows Bridge spanning Puget Sound from Tacoma to the Kitsap Peninsula. It had been a few weeks since I had run more than three miles in a day. The run was about four and a half miles.

On my return run, the climb from the bridge to Jackson Avenue was quite steep. I remember working with my thoughts. This is so steep. I’ll never make it. But I set those thoughts aside, and focused on the individual steps. I told myself I didn’t need to make it all the way back up the hill. All I needed to do was take one more step. Then another. And another.

A year ago, I wondered if I could run any distance at all. I hadn’t run in many years. Now, I was running miles and hills.

Every step was challenging, but focusing, and celebrating every step, made the run bearable.

Before I knew it, I was back in the parking lot where I had parked the van. I had made it across the bridge and back. I had made it up the steep incline from the bridge to the park. I was finished. I had made it.

It may not have been the six mile run I had told someone I would be doing on Saturday, but it was a 4-1/2 mile run that was quite challenging. I pushed myself to my limits and overcame.

It was a gain of only 432 feet, but I felt like I had climbed a mountain. I didn’t wait to celebrate.

What part of your journey can you celebrate, today?

burnout celebrate success