Feeling defeated is effortless.
On the other hand, seeing the progress I am making, or remembering the achievements that are mine to claim as I push forward toward my dreams, when I am in the thick of going for my goal, is often impossible. I’m just too close.
Too regularly I find myself mired in the all that I have not done yet, the echo of ‘No’s’ in my head, and the visual of someone else’s back-end who’s outpacing me along the path to success. We loop de loop in our thoughts with self-bludgeoning and drill sergeant type motivating, very often forgetting to acknowledge the all that we have done along the way.
In truth, I have inspired others. I have left amazing impressions with those I have worked with. I have come so far from where I started. But how can you see that? How can I see that?
I keep a compliment jar.
A Compliment Jar is a beautiful, inspiring, simple housing of all we HAVE gotten done, of all those we HAVE inspired, of all we HAVE done well.
Thanks to a good friend, one of life’s angels that crosses our paths, I found the book that introduced me to this very simple, very effective stroke of super-charged motivating self-kindness. The book is called, “Write It Down, Make It Happen” by Henriette Anne Klausner.
Aside from the genius that is writing toward the things in life you want and want to do, “Write It Down, Make It Happen” also introduces the Compliment Jar, now one of my favorite success tools yet. Because while writing to your goals and dreams helps you give them concrete lines that you can then fill with explicit detail like a dream blueprint, remembering and actually seeing your progress is rocket fuel for the next leg of the journey. By looking back through my jar I am reminded that hey, I am capable, and hey, look at what I can do and hey, my work means something to others. My debilitating, never-helps-anyone-get-any-good-done critic is shut up so I can hear myself think forward. It is a constant source of proof against all the ‘I Can’ts’ along the way that the truth of the matter is, I absolutely can.
Jennifer Aston is a contributing blogger for JenningsWire, a blogging community created by Annie Jennings.
