(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
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Welcome to Goals and Grace with certified high performance coach, Reverend Dr. Juliet Spencer, where we train the decisions that shape our lives and learn to pursue success without losing our souls. Ready to lead with love, not depletion. Let's go.
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Today we're wrapping up our 12 week decision fitness journey with a practice that seems simple, but has the power to change everything. We're talking about celebrating small wins because momentum grows when progress is noticed. But before we dive in, I have a gift for you.
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If you've been following along through this decision fitness series, or even if this is your first episode, I've created a free one page resource called the Decision Fitness Playbook, 12 Weeks to Clarity, Consistency, and Calm. It summarizes the key lessons from each week and gives you a simple way to revisit the habits and decisions that create lasting momentum. You'll find the link in the show notes, and I'll remind you about it again before we finish.
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Now let's talk about why this matters. Most people wait to celebrate until they reach the finish line, until they've gotten the promotion or achieved the weight loss, completed the project or published the book. And because those milestones can take months or years to achieve, they spend most of their lives feeling behind.
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They accomplish something meaningful and immediately move on to the next thing without any pause or acknowledgement or gratitude. No wonder people constantly feel under pressure. I've been guilty of this myself, if the truth be told.
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For years, I treated achievement like a moving target. I'd finish one project and immediately focus on the next one. I rarely stopped long enough to appreciate what had actually happened.
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I was pretty good at recognizing smaller achievements with staff, with church members and volunteers, but I was much less so with myself. Maybe that's you. Well, the result wasn't greater productivity.
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It was exhaustion. But what I've learned is that momentum isn't sustained by constant pressure. It is sustained by evidence, evidence that you're growing, learning, that you're becoming the person you said you wanted to be.
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And that's why small wins matter because, well, they're proof and proof changes how we see ourselves. One of the most fascinating discoveries in psychology is something called the progress principle. Researchers found that one of the greatest motivators isn't a huge breakthrough.
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It's the experience of making meaningful progress. Momentum grows when we can see movement. That's exactly what we find in scripture.
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After God led the Israelites across the Jordan river into the promised land, God instructed Joshua to choose 12 men and gather 12 stones from the middle of the river. Now, obviously it's not because the people needed the rocks, but they did need a reminder. Joshua chapter four tells us those stones were to become a memorial to future generations so that they would ask, what are these stones mean? The stones marked progress.
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They reminded the people where they had been, what God had done and how far they had come. I've often wondered what would happen if we created more memorial stones in our own lives. Not literal stones, of course, but moments when we stop and acknowledge what God's doing in us.
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The boundary we finally kept or the difficult conversation we finally screwed up our courage enough to have. The workout that we completed that we didn't think we would complete. The chapter we wrote.
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Maybe it's the evening we chose presence over distraction or for my husband, maybe it's the day he didn't lose his temper at, and I quote, idiot drivers, end quote. Perhaps it's the day we responded with grace instead of frustration. Those moments matter, my friend.
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They are evidence of growth and growth deserves acknowledgement. Don't you think? That's why I created the decision fitness playbook. We forget how much we've learned and how much we've grown.
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It's easy to forget the decisions that helped us become stronger. That helped us step into who we choose to be. The playbook gives you a way to revisit these 12 weeks.
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Whenever you need a reset, a reminder, or a fresh dose of momentum, think of it as 12 memorial stones gathered from this journey together. Let's pause for a moment and think about the last seven days. What's one thing you did that moved your life forward? It doesn't have to be a huge victory or a big trophy moment.
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Just one meaningful step. It could be anything from keeping a promise to yourself to getting out of bed when you really did not want to, to protecting your priorities. Maybe you've finished something you've been avoiding.
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Maybe you ate a salad when you really wanted a Snickers bar. Whatever comes to mind, take a breath and let yourself feel it. Say to yourself, huh, that counted.
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Because it did. As I mentioned, we're often generous in noticing what everyone else around us accomplishes, but we can sure be stingy in recognizing our own progress. Yet confidence isn't built by pretending success hasn't happened.
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That's worth repeating. Confidence isn't built by pretending success hasn't happened. Confidence grows when we tell ourselves the truth and the truth is this, you've already done hard things.
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You have already made progress. The fact that you're listening to this podcast is proof that you are willing to take time to grow and improve and learn new things. The challenge is remembering.
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So here's the practice I want you to use this week. First, schedule a 10 minute weekly reflection. If you haven't already done so, choose the same day and time each week and ask yourself what went well, what moved forward? Where did I keep a promise to myself? This is not a to-do list review.
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It's an identity review. You're looking for evidence of who you're becoming and then create a tiny wins log. You can use your phone or a journal or a note card, but write down three wins each day.
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I recommend the smaller they seem the better. A healthy lunch or a completed task, a boundary honored, tiny wins, a walk around the neighborhood, whatever it is. Remember tiny wins accumulate into extraordinary lives.
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Third, share one win each week with someone who roots for you. Now this is really important because there are people who want you to succeed. There are people who care about you.
There are people who love you. So share one win each week with someone who roots for you. It might be a friend or your spouse or your coaching group or your coach.
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You aren't bragging. You're reinforcing progress. You're strengthening the belief that change is actually happening.
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And then finally practice gratitude. Every small win ultimately points back to God's grace. Your effort matters and your choices matter, but every bit of strength, wisdom, courage, and opportunity is a gift.
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Celebration becomes healthiest when it leads to gratitude. So then it's not, look what I did. It's look what God and I are accomplishing together.
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My friend, as we close this final week of Decision Fitness, I want you to remember something really important. You don't need to become a different person to create a meaningful life, but you do need to keep becoming more fully the person God has created you to be. That's what these 12 weeks have been about.
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They've been about one decision and one habit at a time about one courageous choice at a time. You're learning to think longer term and protect priorities to define your five moves, recover from setbacks, establish boundaries and well review and refine. And now celebrate progress.
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Momentum isn't usually built in giant leaps, but it is built in faithful steps repeated over time. And if you'd like a simple way to carry these lessons forward, download my free one page PDF Decision Fitness Playbook 12 Weeks to Clarity, Consistency and Calm. Inside you'll find the core principles from each week of the series, along with reflection questions and practical reminders you can return to whenever life feels overwhelming or when your focus starts to drift.
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Think of it as your personal field guide for making better decisions, protecting what matters to you and building a life that reflects what you really value. You'll find the link in the show notes. As we conclude this series, I'd like to leave you with a question that has guided so much of our journey together.
And the question, who do I want to be? And then celebrate every small decision that helps you become that person. Notice the progress and celebrate the win. Thank God for the growth and show up again tomorrow.
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The next right decision is always waiting. And that's how momentum becomes inevitable. Until next time, my friend, thanks for listening.
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Don't forget your free gift and may God bless you with goals and grace.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
