Tag: celebrate

Balancing Where You Are and Lofty Goals (3-25-26)

Last week was about Mario, chasing Power Moons, and making progress.  This week is about Super Mario Wonder, celebrating where you are, and having lofty goals.

Currently, I’m playing Super Mario Wonder, a recent side scrolling game filled with bright colors and fun powers.  I’m pretty good and I often reach a flow state, where I effortlessly sprint through the level, perfectly time every jump and move, dodge the bad guys, gather all of the purple coins, find all of the wonder seeds, and capture the flag at its peak at the end of the level.  Sometimes, I’m not in this flow state.  I still beat the level, but it’s not quite as magical or smooth.  When I’m not beating levels in the flow state, I’m still having fun.  I’m still doing well.  It’ s just not magic.  I don’t beat myself up when this happens.  I don’t get mad or overly critical.  I am proud of beating the level AND I continue to go after achieving the flow state.

Let’s make some connections.  Think about work for a minute.  How do you balance being proud of where you are and aspirational goals?  Yesterday, I had my first performance check-in and I told my boss I was feeling pretty good about things.  He asked me what it would look like to be doing great.  I told him I would be delivering magic.  Everything would move and be effortless, and he basically said, “So you’d be doing miracles?”  Well, basically 😉 

I explained that I’ve done magic before at work, so I know what that looks and feels like.  That’s what I’m chasing.  I’m very proud of everything I’ve done this quarter.  However, similar to our Mario story, I’m beating level, but it’s not flow state level magic right now.  I’m not crushing myself because I failed to meet a borderline unrealistic expectation.  I’m just acknowledging that I have lofty goals that I know I can get to.  I’m reflecting and thinking about how I can handle things in the future to enhance my chances of delivering magic.  I’m celebrating what I’ve done, while still aiming high.

The challenge- How will you balance lofty goals with being proud of what you’re delivering?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Obstacles and Celebrating Progress/Small Wins (10-15-25)

Last week was about embracing the grimy path to success.  This week is about failed rope climbs, conquered warped walls, and celebrating progress and small wins.

I failed the warped wall 3 times at Frontline OCR back in May, which resulted in some nasty friction burns on my leg.  With that in mind, I came into the recent Midwest OCR looking for redemption.  The first obstacle I ran into was the rope climb.  I did not complete this obstacle.  HOWEVER, I’m so excited, because for the first time in my life, I actually hooked my feet correctly.  I got further than I’ve ever made it.  Then, when I got to the warped wall, I finally beat that thing!  I latched onto the rope and knew I wasn’t letting go until I had finished climbing the wall.  I had so much adrenaline running through my body after completing the wall that I thought I might pass out.

What does this have to do with anything?  It would have been easy for me to call my race a failure.  I failed obstacles.  I was slower than I wanted to be.  I didn’t win.  However, I view it a success because of the progress and small wins I had.  Now think about work for a minute.  How often do you pause to celebrate progress and small wins?  Be honest.  If you’re anything like me, it’s so easy to get focused on the end goal with a win/lose mentality that I don’t pause at work.  Then, I find myself feeling stuck or like a failure, all because I haven’t opened my eyes to the progress that has been made.  Does this sound familiar to anyone else?  It doesn’t have to be this way.  We can all be celebrating small wins on a more regular basis.

The challenge: How will you ensure you are celebrating progress and small wins along the way?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry