Here in Singletonland on the pickleball court playing 4-5 times a week, whichever 2-person team winning a serve or sneaking in a terrific corner shot just over the net ... hoots, hollers, screams, jumps, dances, moonwalks, and high-five each other as if we have just won a gold meal in the Olympics! We get that excited and that loud. Each successful serve, return of the wiffleball, a smash past our opponent, and good volley, is considered a tiny victory. And tiny victories add up to winning a game.
Then, of course, when we win, we become increasingly louder. Listening to us picklers, you'd think you were spectating at THE tournament of all pickleball tournaments.
I call these screaming episodes tiny victories. Celebrating them keeps up our adrenaline, peps us, challenges our competitiveness, and hypes the pickleball game into a very enjoyable experience. The victories mean winning ... and each little win makes us feel joyful.
Playing on a pickleball team or on any team (at work, at home, in a relationship, on a sports field, on a committee) can be very exciting. You may or not play pickleball - no need - however, what tiny victories are you able to experience today? Let's consider a few scenarios:
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Say your goal is to lose 30 pounds and tomorrow morning, the scale shows one pound lost ... so cheer about that!
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Say your aim is to work up to running a specific time or miles, and today you beat what you did yesterday, yet still didn't reach your mark ... dance around about that!
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Say your nonprofit org received its next contribution from a donor toward a large fundraising goal ... yell aloud about that!
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Say that person's face you've been struggling to paint on your watercolor canvas finally turns out exactly how you had envisioned it, and although you're not done the entire portrait - celebrate that part.
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Maybe your new line of jewelry or other product sold its first piece on Etsy ... jump around about that.
- Perhaps this morning you finally did not burn the toast in the toaster oven - cheer it!
See where I'm going here? We do not have to reach our end goals to wait to celebrate each step towards it. No. We should hoot, holler, scream, jump, dance, and high-five or hug yourself now ... during each tiny milestone, each tiny victory, leading to the full win. This way, we keep the adrenaline, momentum, and pep moving as we work toward the intended goal.
Perhaps you and a friend had a heart-to-heart chat to clear the air ... perhaps you received an award in front of your coworkers ... or you were voted best yoga instructor at a studio. Did your chicken marsala turn out tasty? Did that meeting at work go as planned?
Snippeteers, we must celebrate the tiny victories hourly and daily. It's not always necessary to wait for "the big ending" to cheer and feel the victory. Jump, scream and dance at all the little ones in between.
So let's hear you hooting and wooting and cheering yourselves, snippeteers!
What tiny victory have you enjoyed today?
