Victory in the work.

Yesterday, I did something I’d set out to do: I posted to my blog and hit my daily word count in my novel. My goal was to write every day, and I made sure to get those 250 words in. But when I finished, I didn’t feel a burst of joy. Instead, I felt pretty neutral, maybe even a bit flat.

And that got me thinking: we often buy into this idea that accomplishing a goal should come with a certain feeling of happiness or satisfaction. If we don’t feel that way, the inner critic pipes up and says, “Well, maybe it wasn’t good enough.” But here’s the thing: our priority needs to be the work itself. Feelings are secondary. Feelings aren’t facts. The real win is in getting the work done.

Think about a boxer like Terence Crawford. When he defeated Canelo Álvarez, he became the champion, but that didn’t mean he walked away feeling amazing. He probably felt the sting of every punch. That pain didn’t erase his victory. In the same way, we don’t need to measure the value of our accomplishments by how we feel in the moment. We can let go of that expectation and just focus on the priority: doing the work. If the good feelings come along later, that’s a bonus.

So next time you find yourself wondering if your achievement counts because you’re not on cloud nine, remind yourself: the priority is the work. Feelings may follow, or they may not, and that’s okay. What matters is that you showed up and did the work.

Reflection Question:

When have you accomplished something and found that the feelings didn’t quite match your expectations? How did you remind yourself that the real victory was in the work itself?