Y’all, this has been the CRAZIEST year. We have literally pivoted and pivoted and pivoted again as this year has changed how we work, school, commute, shop, socialize and exist. It has been bananas.
I started out writing a super long email about the benefits of a forced rest and how bodies are presenting so much differently on the stretch table the last few weeks, but Mailchimp deleted everything and in recovery mode, I realized I most wanted to share with you an inspiring story about play instead.
A few days ago, my brother gave my kiddo a jump rope. It’s nothing special, just a cast-off old jump rope that my brother just didn’t want to take with him on his recent move. Rio treated that thing like gold and for the entire day, he carried it around in his pocket like a special treasure, finding pockets of space large enough for him and his jump rope.
At first, he was terrible. Just awful. This kid couldn’t get a single jump before he’d trip, fall over, whip himself in the head, or whack his jump rope on a wall, car, tree, other other random item he’d set up too close to.
But he kept trying.
He even brought his jump rope with us on our daily walk, stopping to jump every few steps. On our walk, he said “Mama, watch me jump 10 times!”
He jumped twice. Tripped. Laughed, yelled “I got two!”
Jumped four times. Tangled. “Ok, that’s four!” He said.
Jumped another four times. “Did you see me jump 10 times?!?! Oh ya, I did it!” And he continued to celebrate his way out of a jump rope tangle.
Watching him celebrate, I realized he was setting SMART goals and celebrating his wins like a champ.
His goal was totally specific. 10 jumps.
It was measurable.
It was attainable.
It was realistic.
And it was timed.
He didn’t add in any extra qualifiers or quantifiers to his 10 jump goal. He didn’t say, I’m going to jump 10 times without stopping, or 10 times with my eyes closed, or 10 times every day for 10 times a day. Nope.
He wisely chose to jump 10 times in any fashion and celebrate the win.
Watching him celebrate, I realized just how often we, as grownups, gatekeep ourselves and set ourselves up for failure. We add so many extra qualifiers and quantifiers to our goals that the things we enjoy become work. We gatekeep ourselves out of enjoyable activities and communities by adding extra requirements that don’t need to be there.
Worst of all, we burn ourselves out by never celebrating our wins.
Here’s the thing. By instinctively setting a SMART goal and celebrating his little win, Rio kept himself motivated and kept his chosen activity, jump roping, fun. He spent the entire afternoon on the driveway jump roping, setting goals, giving himself positive pep talks, counting, celebrating.
He created an entire celebration dance.
He cheered himself on with shouts of “Oh yeah, oh yeah, check me out!”.
The next afternoon, he was still jump roping.
But he wasn’t tripping. He wasn’t tangling. He wasn’t whacking himself or anything else with this jump rope.
He was jumping up to 30 reps in a go, attempting tricks like single leg or eyes closed, skipping while jumping, and scheming for how he could scooter and jump rope at the same time.
His celebrations kept him motivated. His motivation gave him momentum. His momentum gave him excitement and inspiration. The inspiration kept things fun. And when things are fun, we want to keep doing them.
Without realizing it, this kiddo taught his Mama 2 HUGE lessons.
1) It’s so much easier to get better at something when it’s fun and we want to keep “playing”.
and
2) He showed me just how necessary celebrating the little wins really is for our long term motivation, momentum and inspiration.
This week, I challenge you to join me in celebrating one teeny tiny little win in a big way. No matter what the little win is, go crazy. Create your celebration dance. Jump up and down. Yell “oh yeah I did it, I did it oh yeah”. Shout “Oh yeah!! Check me out!”.
Signing off with wishes for a day filled with pockets of rest and play. And as always, Pilates Native is here to provide you with a safe space to rest, play and celebrate the little wins with Pilates and Stretch Therapy. 🙂
Take care and see you soon,
Rubecca