Moments that build momentum:
Celebrating Small Wins in Personal Development
Moments that build momentum:
Celebrating Small Wins in Personal Development
Giulia Missanelli & Simone Bellisario
In today’s fast-paced environment, it often feels like things can spiral out of control quickly. I remember a few years ago when I was an intern at one of my previous companies, working on a project with an intense deadline. I was so laser-focused on the end goal that I rarely paused to reflect on my progress. Instead, I fixated on everything that still needed to be done. As the deadline neared, I felt overwhelmed, stressed, and increasingly doubtful of my work. I was convinced I was falling behind because I only noticed what wasn’t working, completely overlooking how much progress I had made. I felt unaccomplished by the time the project was completed, even though I had done a good job.
If I had celebrated the small steps along the way, I would have recognized my progress and built confidence and momentum. Why does this matter? Because the small wins, though easily overlooked, are what sustain long-term motivation.
Why Celebrating Small Wins Matters: Shifting Focus from Negativity to Progress
It’s not just a matter of being positive. There’s a psychological explanation for why we focus so much on the negative: it’s called negativity bias. This cognitive bias causes us to give more mental weight to negative events than positive ones of equal intensity. This tendency leads us to fixate on the setbacks and challenges while ignoring or underappreciating the small wins we achieve.
And yet, research shows that recognizing small wins is vital for motivation and well-being. Psychologists Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer coined the Progress Principle, which emphasizes that small victories, even seemingly insignificant ones, boost our mood and drive.
Acknowledging progress helps foster a Positive Loop of motivation, engagement, and creativity.
When we celebrate even the tiniest accomplishments, we gain momentum and energy to continue working toward our larger goals.
But how can we incorporate this mindset into our daily lives, especially when we are conditioned to look for mistakes or obstacles?
what sustain long-term motivation.
what sustain long-term motivation.
How Experience Design Enhances Motivation: The Power of Moments
In their book, The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath explain how experiences, even small ones, can be intentionally crafted to create memorable and meaningful moments. These moments often come from what they call “peaks” — experiences that stand out because they are surprising, impactful, or emotionally resonant.
Celebrating small wins can be a form of creating these peak moments. For example, when a team hits a milestone in a project, that’s a moment worth elevating. Acknowledging the achievement with a quick celebration. Whether it’s sending a team-wide email, sharing a quick story over coffee, or even ringing a bell in the office, transforms the mundane into something memorable. It reinforces the importance of progress and gives everyone a shared experience of success.
By designing experiences that emphasize the recognition of progress, we can build motivation in ways that feel deeply personal and emotionally resonant. Moments of elevation, as the Heath brothers describe, break the monotony of everyday work and remind us of the meaning and value behind our efforts.
How to Recognize and Celebrate Small Wins
Recognizing and celebrating small wins doesn’t happen by accident.
It requires intentionality and a shift in mindset.
Here are some actionable strategies to help acknowledge and celebrate progress effectively.
Break down larger assignments into manageable steps
When we work on large projects, it’s easy to lose sight of the steps we’ve taken. Break your project into smaller, manageable tasks and celebrate each completed step. This helps create a sense of forward momentum.
Keep a “Small Wins” and Feedback Journal
Track your daily progress and positive feedback to build a record of accomplishments. This habit counters negativity bias and boosts confidence, offering a reminder of your growth and strengths, especially during tough times.
Set achievable daily or weekly goals
When setting goals, make sure they’re realistic and attainable. For example, if you’re learning a new skill, track your weekly improvements rather than waiting for a major breakthrough. Celebrating incremental growth keeps you motivated.
Reflect on overcoming obstacles
Look back at moments during the week when you faced challenges but persisted. Overcoming an obstacle, even if it’s small, is a victory worth acknowledging.
Create “peak moments” with intentional celebrations
Don’t wait for monumental achievements to be celebrated. You can create small, memorable moments by celebrating small wins with simple yet meaningful gestures — a celebratory email, a coffee break, or even sharing the achievement with colleagues or friends. Here are some basic principles to keep in mind when deliberately creating these peak moments.
- Elevation: Make the celebration special, unexpected, and sensory-rich. Transform ordinary moments into extraordinary ones by creating surprise and excitement.
- Insight: Reflect on the deeper meaning of the small win. Use it as an opportunity to gain a new perspective or realize a key learning.
- Pride: Acknowledge and publicly recognize achievements. Foster a sense of accomplishment and confidence by celebrating milestones and tracking progress.
- Connection: Celebrate wins together. Build rituals and shared experiences that strengthen relationships and create a sense of belonging.
Conclusion: Building Long-Term Success Through Small Wins
In a world where we’re constantly pushing toward larger goals and navigating a fast-paced work environment, it’s easy to lose sight of the small steps we take each day. However, as we’ve explored, celebrating small wins is critical for sustained motivation and long-term success. It helps shift our focus from what’s wrong to what’s going well, creating a more positive and resilient mindset.
After all, we live through the moments we remember. By consciously choosing to notice and celebrate small wins, we create powerful, memorable experiences that fuel our ongoing growth and development. Each small win builds upon the last, and before we know it, we’ve created a lasting path toward success.
Kanouse, D. E., & Hanson, L. (1972). Negativity in evaluations. In E. E. Jones, D. E. Kanouse, S. Valins, H. H. Kelley, R. E. Nisbett, & B. Weiner (Eds.), Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior. General Learning Press.
Amabile, T., & Kramer, S. (2011, May). The power of small wins. Harvard Business Review.
Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2017). The power of moments: Why certain experiences have extraordinary impact. Simon and Schuster.
About the authors
About the authors
Giulia is an intern in the Solutions Hub at atrain. Her daily work involves supporting the team in the progress of leadership journeys and team development projects. Raised in Italy, she lived in France, Spain and Germany, enjoying and thriving in multicultural and diverse environments. During her free time you’ll find her lost in nature, forests or the beach, or by a local library reading a book.
SIMONE is a Senior Consultant and Designer at atrain. In his atrain job, Simone supports organizations to implement holistic and human-centric transformations. His philosophy is to do so through the conscientious evaluation and use of the best available evidence, to make more effective and thorough decisions. His other areas of expertise include sarcasm, dog whispering, and finding the most appropriate quote from Friends or The Simpsons to describe a situation.
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The small wins and their constant celebration are a vital requirement for generating motivation, engagement, and creativity.
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