Why celebrate each step?

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​Dear Why Team member, 
I hope this weeks message finds you well and enjoying your journey.
This week we ask:

​Why celebrate each step?

​One of my daily mantras is:
Have fun and get stuff done!
No doubt, my Mom’s influence is found in this approach to life. I remember in the last year of her life a response she would often give me when I asked her how she was doing, she would say:
“It was a good day, I got a lot done.”

I do enjoy getting a lot done and have developed a sense of accomplishment simply by achieving progress. I enjoy taking on as much responsibility as possible and have made peace with imperfection and incompletion. This does not mean I don’t complete a lot of what I start or that I don’t pursue perfection, I just don’t allow the apparent underachievement of either to diminish my enjoyment of the journey. I’ve come to celebrate the steps I take more than overly focusing on outcome. I invite you to do the same.

Life is always in process; even that which dies is feeding the process. Notice how we may strive for a particular goal thinking attainment is the primary objective and will lead to full satisfaction - only to maybe find ourselves a little let-down at the end. It is really all about the journey and not the destination.

Celebrating each step we take is an absolute must if we are to keep taking them. Also consider setting aside time at least once a month to review your progress, adjust your direction and then get back to taking those steps. Celebrate all of your progress, even your perceived failures, as they often teach us the most. To achieve what from the outset seems impossible, we must persevere, we must keep taking steps, moving, not allowing mental weakness to break us. If we define success only as achieving or completing a goal, then the work to get there is more burdensome and less tolerable. And if the goal looks particularly hard, it’s not uncommon to see people just stop and give up. When we bias our minds to see progress as success, we are more likely to celebrate the steps and thus more likely to keep taking them.
Lao-Tzu in the Tao Te Ching instructs us that the journey of a thousand miles begins with what?
A single step
How many more steps might you take if you focused more on having fun getting them done, rather than reserving your celebration only for completion? How many more journeys would you commence if you wouldn’t be scared by the number of steps needed to complete them?
Our lives are happening NOW!

I have led much of my life with an eye on the future, no doubt missing much of my life in the present. My memory of details is not so good, probably because my mind wasn’t fully present. In recent years, I have strived to be more present than ever knowing that my life is always in the now. And this more mindful approach has led to me celebrating all-the-more each step I take. I still have my goals and aspirations, but no longer feel incomplete for not having yet completed them. Celebrating each step, having fun on the journey, means you’re less likely to give up and quit. Life doesn’t finish, and neither should you. Don’t we all immediately set new goals? It truly is a journey that we are on, be sure to look out the window more often, take more moments to just BE and appreciate -and then move and enjoy more than ever each new step you take.

Make it a great week!

Steve Luckenbach