Tag: mental health

Don’t underestimate the value of micro goals.
We’re living in a difficult time.(A lot of us, anyway…)

And we’re juggling all of it: physical health, financial health, mental health, relational health, social health, spiritual health.

All of these things take up mental AND physical energy.

THEY. DO.

We can’t beat ourselves up for that. These are real pressures. Real responsibilities. Real drains on our attention, our bodies, our nervous systems, and our ability to sit down and make things.

My back is all messed up right now because I slept funny the other night. This is day three of my back, neck, and shoulder being angry at me.
And I’m doing what I can about it.

But I’m also probably going to have to wait for it to get better.
Which means I haven’t accomplished all the physical goals I wanted to accomplish over the last few days.

But you know what I did today?

I made a real, healthy breakfast for myself and my wife.

That is a win.

I’m banking that win. I’m giving myself full credit for that win.

I also haven’t done as much writing as I wanted to do the last few days. And that sucks and it pisses me off.

But right now, I’m also on call for work. I have to wait and see if I get called in.

So instead of pretending I have a perfect, open, magical writing day, I’m going to ask: What can I actually do today?

Maybe I can write one paragraph.

Maybe I can revise one page.

Maybe I can fix one scene.

Maybe I can answer one email.

Maybe I can make one note that helps me find my way back into the book tomorrow.

That counts.

Micro goals really do stack up. And beating ourselves up for not accomplishing more does not help us accomplish more.

Now, yes, there’s a flip side to this. Self-discipline matters. Showing up matters. Doing the work matters. I believe all of that.

But that’s not what I’m talking about today.

Today I’m talking about acknowledging reality.

Sometimes things are hard. Sometimes life gets heavy. Sometimes your back hurts, your money is weird, your schedule is unstable, your brain is tired, and the big heroic version of the day you imagined is just not going to happen.

So reduce the expectation.

Ask:

What would count as a win today?

One sentence?

One page?

One scene?

Revising a query letter?

Opening the document and reading Chapter 14 so you remember what the hell you were doing?

Fine. That’s the win. Take it.

Give yourself credit. Because those wins matter.

And if you keep collecting them, they start to stack. The micro goals get bigger. The momentum comes back. The work starts moving again.

You’ve got this.

Keep writing.