Have you ever had a day where it seemed like everything went wrong?😓
Problem after problem, issue after issue…sometimes it seems like we just can’t catch a break!😡
This can be infuriating, and unfortunately no one is immune to it. When I was a medical student, there were days where I hadn't slept well, I forgot my textbook at home📕, I couldn't remember anything I was learning in anatomy lab...I couldn't even find a good study spot in the med school library!😤
Even now as a physician, I’ve had countless days in the ED where I feel like I'm seeing patients too slowly🐌, tests are taking forever to get done🧪, consultants are being rude, and some patients have bad outcomes. Where is the positivity?!
Enter the micro-win.🏆
A micro-win is exactly what it sounds like. It’s smaller than a full-fledged win🤏🏻 but still has all of the same core components. I was first introduced to this concept during a med school rotation in my fourth year where I spent one month living in the redwoods in California🌳…but that's a story for another time!
I’ll be honest, at first I didn’t quite grasp the idea. After all, so many things in society, everything from the lottery to a sporting event🏈, are based on win or lose.
But the idea was very intriguing to me, so I kept searching for these micro-wins. It wasn’t long before I discovered something amazing...
Micro-wins are all around us. We may not even realize it, but we experience them every day. Did somebody hold open a door for you or smile at you?🙂 Did that package you ordered arrive a day early📦? Did you get all the green lights on the drive home🚦?!
Take a moment and think about a micro-win you've already had today💭. If you challenge yourself to consistently find these micro-wins, you'll find a deeper appreciation in small gestures and a bright spot in some dark moments🔦.
Not every day will be perfect, but every day does have some micro-wins, and there are always small bits of joy waiting to be discovered✨.
All we have to do is look!😄