Mark the moment: because it only comes around once
by Niki Marin, Co-Founder & Owner of the Leadership Supply Company
I recently shared a post discussing my first lessons as a business owner. The tensions between meeting the demands of the short term while staying true to your long term vision is a constant balancing act. An important part of that lesson I didn’t dive into was how easy it is to play down milestones. When work is piling up, and it feels like your list of tasks is never ending, it’s easy to blaze over important moments that should be celebrated. It’s not easy to justify the time away from doing the next thing. To that end, I had to pause myself and recognize that updating the company website was a moment we needed to mark, one where I needed to practice what I professed. The intent here is to remind you that regardless of what you do for work, it’s important to point out milestones and small wins. It makes the effort behind them worth it.
Launch, listen & learn
It was only a few months ago that the Leadership Supply Co. website was first published and officially announced. My husband and I were proud of what we scrambled to put together as we set out on this new venture, while moving cities, with two small children. Neither of us had any experience in building websites, and we did not have the funds to hire an agency, so we did what we could and taught ourselves the basics. The only way we were going to actually learn was by taking a chance on ourselves and launching something we could put our name behind.
As we’ve engaged and listened to feedback from customers we’ve strengthened our voice and gained a clearer understanding of our offerings, which gave us the confidence to refine our brand and communicate it more effectively. Listening can be difficult if you’re not in a learning mindset, especially when the topic is something that you put time and effort into. Rather than taking offense (and believe me, we received some very specific feedback), we re-framed this as research that people were giving away for free! It went a long way in refining our approach and choosing both an approachable aesthetic and tone.
Redoing our website just a few months into starting our business might seem like a waste of time, yet what we learned is that the website represents our brand when we’re not physically present to speak to it. It’s also an extension of how we can live up to our values. One in particular stands out — to serve others. It’s something that our time in the military taught us, and continues to guide our decisions. In re-launching the website, the goal is to provide interested people with a better experience and more relevant information on why, how, and what we do.
Celebrate today, work will be there tomorrow
A strength I used to pride myself on was the ability to accomplish a milestone, sometimes give myself a quick “tap on the back” for satisfaction, and then move on to the next task. No matter how large or small, I knew there was more to accomplish and typically whatever had been finished was creating an opportunity for something else ahead. While this mentality allowed me to get things done (it still does), it can create a joy-less and mis-informed climate. If you’re just chasing the next thing, the lack of learning falls through and doesn’t get applied to the future, and at the same time, it can desensitize you to the simple boosts of delight in your work.
When we trivialize hard work, it normalizes the notion that only big things matter and that you shouldn’t share anything in the meantime. Reinforcing this pattern can erode self-confidence and trick us into thinking that only big accomplishments are worthwhile. Acknowledging the small moments increases motivation as it’s feedback for yourself, and a reminder that you can overcome challenges when you inevitably hit obstacles.
This is where celebration can create a forced moment to stand still and appreciate the work that has been done. While you don’t need to schedule a parade for every small achievement, honor the effort you’ve applied to a project — the great, the good, the shortcomings, the straight up “misses” — you’ve earned the right to soak the moment in. One of the leadership lessons we espouse in our programs is reflection in-action, not just after-action. You shouldn’t wait until all elements of a project get done to glean the lessons from it. Take the time to reflect and celebrate as you’re completing it to gain maximum learning.
Re-define opportunity loss
Oftentimes we default to making excuses for why we can’t do something — reasons that keep us from pursuing what we know we should be making time for. We arbitrarily calculate the opportunity cost of certain things by convincing ourselves of the loss we’ll incur. What’s helped keep me in check is taking the time to recognize what could be lost without making time. When it comes to marking the small moments, whether in work or in life, I’ve learned to calculate what would be lost — increased confidence, learning, growth, and the pleasure of doing the work.
We sometimes fall into the trap of wanting to finish things because we’ve been conditioned to stick to our goals, despite changing conditions. We set ambitious goals that we feel forced to accomplish because they were carefully crafted, discussed, and then input into our performance management system. Then, many variables change and the assumptions under which those goals were developed no longer hold true, but we don’t change the goals. What’s the loss incurred by not reflecting on the small moments on our way to those goals?
I struggled whether to share this update and personal reflection as I didn’t want to contribute to self-serving messaging on this platform. What unlocked the decision for me was that I’m not just doing this for the reader, this is an exercise for myself. For me, spending time to celebrate moments is no longer a waste of time — it’s an investment in how I want to operate my business. In marking this moment of our website re-launch, I’m investing in the story that I’ll tell. I don’t consider that a loss — in fact, I couldn’t put a price on it.
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