This is a topic I’m writing especially for myself, so don’t take it as if I’m perfect and follow this on a daily basis.
Most of us are, or were once, so ambitious that nothing except the destination mattered to us. For a high school student, it might be a dream job or college, and he/she would be so engrossed in reaching that goal that a perfect score on a math final that everyone struggled with would no longer matter to them. They are never happy, never satisfied, relentlessly pursuing that one thing and then, disaster strikes. They’ve hit a roadblock. They don’t want to even lift a finger anymore. Nothing of what they are doing seems to bear any fruit, and their efforts seem futile. While I personally know some people who achieve their goal without hitting this roadblock, a majority do and that is why celebrating small wins is not only the road to keep guiding but the engine to keep moving; you can ride on any terrain but you cannot ride without an engine. Our brains might seem advanced and different comparing to our ancestors owing to the technology exposure we have, but we still are biologically the same. Our brain still craves reward, which is felt by the release of the neurotransmitter Dopamine, without which the brain refuses to focus. We were made to receive rewards for effort; when humans spend effort hunting, they get food. However, today we predominantly set long term goals or big goals that take time and a lot of effort to achieve and without small rewards along the way, it is very easy to lose motivation.
We are wired for survival, not perfection; the hint for survival is rewards.
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