Haven’t you always dreamt of huge success?
We all do. We aspire to be great, larger-than-life personalities — an eminent singer, an excellent player, a significant doctor. We carry grand expectations from life and constantly raise the bar for ourselves. And gradually, this ambition turns into a perpetual race — endless, exhausting, and consuming.
Expecting is human — we all do it. We set our standards high to work harder, to become the best version of ourselves. But sometimes, even after giving our all, despite our best potential, life has its way. Circumstances shift. The peak feels unreachable.
And when we don’t conquer that final summit, we label it as failure.
We judge ourselves too harshly.We forget the distance we’ve already covered, the rocks we’ve climbed, and the silent battles we’ve won. We begin to view our journey in extremes — it’s either 100% or nothing, a perfect whole or a complete zero. But don’t you think that’s extreme?Here, I’m reminded of Gestalt Psychology — “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”We often ignore the fragments — the long nights, the small wins, the failed attempts, and the quiet bravery. And yet, these are the very petals that come together to bloom a sunflower. We forget to measure effort. We chase outcomes. But if every tiny effort hadn’t shown up — if every little dream hadn’t been dreamt — would the bulb have ever glowed?Every step matters.Each one counts toward the milestone.
Every peak contributes to the mountain.Every word writes history.
And without that one step, one peak, or one word — the whole would be incomplete.
Think of how we cheer for children when they draw their very first slant while learning the letter “A.”
We celebrate their effort, not their perfection. We radiate joy in their smallest progress. We are all still that child.Our small wins, too, need to be celebrated — and reinforced.
It’s proven in psychology that positive reinforcement strengthens behavior. Those subtle milestones? They compound into greatness — into grit, into growth, into glory. That’s the power of compounding — not just in success, but in joy.
Success doesn’t always arrive with grandeur. Sometimes it whispers — and echoes for eternity. It appears as a wave that merges into an ocean. A drop that splits into a rainbow.
Sometimes, success is simply getting out of bed.And that, too, deserves celebration. Not just the 100%. Celebrate the 25%. The 47%. The 65%. The 99%. Give yourself grace. Buy those flowers. Go on that solo date. Get that expensive perfume you’ve been saving for.Don’t wait for the world to validate you.
You’ll never be able to fly while carrying the weight of its expectations. Celebrate yourself — your every little effort, every silent victory, every tiny win —Because it is the little seed that evolves into a giant tree.
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