On Small Intellectual Steps

It is really easy to think about learning, writing, or the process of accomplishing anything intellectual as a beginning and an end. But sometimes, getting from point A to point B actually looks like moving through A.1, A.2, A.3, and so on, first.

The invisible work behind understanding something can be incredibly challenging, and because so much of it happens internally, it is easy to overlook. I think it is due time we gave ourselves a little more credit for those tiny, invisible steps. At least for me? Some self-love is long overdue.

I am not quite sure why I believe I am qualified to be a motivational speaker all of a sudden, but hey, when it’s all said and done, do you really need any special credentials to be your own hype woman? If you aren’t willing to be your own cheerleader, who is? I am increasingly starting to believe that being able to admit you put in the work and did a dang good job should be necessary for sustainable output.

I think that I, like many others when working from point A to point B, am predominantly motivated by the excitement of the end goal. I push forward because maybe, just maybe, I will be allowed to cheer myself on after I write the finished paper, win the award, or learn the thing. But what if we stopped to celebrate the not-so-little efforts in the middle every once in a while?

What if I recognize that there was never some grandiose leap that got me here, and that this is a result of all the decimals in between that I have never even thought to appreciate?

Learning and doing is a series of efforts, and sometimes? The outcome isn’t even what we thought it’d be in the end anyway. Sometimes we don’t win the award, we don’t understand clearly, and so on, and so forth. That is…human. So if we only celebrate when we get to that dream end goal, then I am starting to think we aren’t giving ourselves nearly enough credit.

This is not to say that dreams and goals are bad, but they shouldn’t be the exclusive moment in which we can appreciate ourselves.

For me personally? I will take a second to be proud of all that I have done.