Have you ever completed a multi-module online course that rewards you with cheers and confetti when you complete a module? I have. Why did the course-makers bother with those silly details? Because they know frequent rewards help the clients taking the class to stick with it.
Unfortunately, even when we start well, are motivated by worthwhile “whys” and maintain a growth mindset, we can still lose momentum when the going gets tough or life gets in the way. That’s where the concept of milestones can help us stick with it all the way to the end of a big project.
Milestones and levels
“Are we there yet?”
You don’t have to be a five-year-old to ask that question.
If we can’t see the finish line, it’s hard to gauge how close we are and easy to grow discouraged. A big goal can feel impossibly far off. Milestones help us stick with the project by allowing us to see our progress.
Highway milestones give you frequent feedback on how far you’ve gone on your journey. Goal-based milestones do much the same thing. Milestones mark the small steps of progress you make towards your end goal. Each milestone achieved is one small proof of progress that helps us stick with it and keep going instead of giving up.
To use a different metaphor, milestones are like the many levels of video games. What do these levels accomplish?
A beginner level offers a way for those new to the game to enjoy it without too much frustration. If the game was too difficult, beginners wouldn’t enjoy playing it and they would quit. Therefore, the beginner level is intentionally made easy, so new users can win right away (cue confetti).
But the easy level will quickly become boring, so a well-designed game offers increasingly difficult levels as the user’s skill improves.
The key concept is that each new level conquered is a small success. And those small successes keep the game enjoyable while the user slowly advances in skill and confidence.
Three reasons celebrating the little milestones helps you stick with it
- It motivates you to keep going. When you recognize each small accomplishment along the way, you enjoy multiple moments of success, which is much more satisfying than waiting until the distant final victory.
- It boosts self-confidence. At the start, the end goal seems hopelessly unattainable, while smaller milestones are attainable. Each small success boosts your confidence that you can achieve the next challenge. Also, looking back at the milestones achieved reminds you how far you’ve come, which in turn helps you move forward with confidence.
- It combats your inner critic. The inner critic focuses on the negative. It says things like, “You don’t have what it takes. Why stick with it when you’re sure to fail? Just quit now and stop wasting everyone’s time.” Keeping track of small accomplishments is tangible proof your inner critic is wrong. The more you struggle with a negative inner critic or unhelpful criticism from others, the more you need the validation of small milestone achievements.
How to create milestones
Well-designed milestones (or levels) will help you achieve your goal by providing doable sub-goals to strive for. Some tips for making useful milestones:
Don’t make the milestones too far apart. The main purpose of milestones is to give you a sense of progress and a glow of success as you work away at the big goal. Give yourself enough of them to keep the next doable milestone in sight.
Look for logical stages or transitions. Most projects have some obvious stages that should become milestones. And then, sometimes those stages can be broken into smaller goals. For example, learning an instrument could have milestones such as this:
- Learning the correct fingering and technique
- Successfully playing a simple melody
- Hitting the correct tone with each note
- Adding another octave to the range of notes you can play
- Successfully playing a more advanced tune
- Learning to sight read
- Etc.
Keep track in a meaningful way. One of the benefits of milestones is being able to look back and remember how far we’ve come. You never know when discouragement will hit and you need that proof to regain momentum. Read this post for a review of some milestone tracking apps.
Milestones don’t have to be boring. If it makes the process more fun, come up with creative ways to define your milestones. For example, the mundane goal of mastering ten songs could be reworded into mastering enough songs to play a half-hour concert.
How will you use this simple secret to stick with it?
I hope I’ve inspired you to pay attention to the small achievements you make along the way to completing a big project or mastering a new skill. And perhaps your first milestone should be looking ahead and identifying the next few milestones on your journey, so you can look forward to achieving them.
