For your goals

The things worth working towards take a long time, and for most of that time the finish line stays out of sight. If you're training for a marathon, every 5K along the way is already something you did, and each one is worth remembering in its own right.

Collecting those steps as you go is what keeps a long goal from feeling like no progress at all.

What to collect

Every step that counted

The first 5K, the first draft, the first month you managed to put money aside. On its own each one can feel small next to the goal. Together they're the reason you got anywhere at all.

The moment you got started

Starting is a thing you did, and it's usually the hardest part. Write down the day you signed up, laced up or opened the document, so you have a beginning to look back from.

The days you kept going

Some moments are worth collecting purely because you showed up when it would have been easier not to. Went for the run in the rain. Practised again after a bad week. That's progress too.

What you can do now that you couldn't before

Goals move the goalposts, so the distance that used to be hard quietly becomes your warm-up. Note it when you notice it, because that's the clearest proof you've actually come somewhere.

When it pays off

• The middle stretch, when the finish line is still out of sight
• The weeks you feel behind on something you're still doing well at
• Seeing that a slow month was still a month of progress
• Reaching the goal, and remembering everything it took
• Changing your mind about a goal, and seeing what you gained anyway

Start collecting

Add each step as you take it, a few sentences at a time. However far away the goal still is, you'll be able to see exactly how much of the distance you've already covered.

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