We all have goals that we are working towards: some are large, others are small. However, no matter what your goals are, or where you are in life, being grateful will help you be more successful and happier.

The small goals are easy for us to measure our success against. But the big ones – like starting your own company, writing a book, or becoming a gourmet chef – are goals that take much longer to accomplish. They don’t happen overnight because so much is required for them before you can become a success.

So we hide them away.

Be Grateful for Opportunities That Bring You a Step Closer To Your Goals

Wanting to make things happen isn’t enough. Goals are achieved through the consistent application of small actions that bring you closer to your dreams, one day at a time.

Today, you might be working towards one of these goals. You are staring at your latest effort to achieve it – that drawing, that latest appetizer, that software program – realizing that you are nowhere near where you want to be.

All those feelings of frustration and anger are slowly mounting inside of you. You’ve put so much effort into accomplishing this goal and still have nothing to show for it.

In these moments when you are teetering on the brink of giving up, or you’re wondering whether to continue ahead, you must forgo the cycle of comparison.

We typically fall into this trap as a way to prop ourselves up. You might say “I’m doing it, I’m making it happen, I’m putting this idea into execution” – when instead, we should be grateful for the opportunity that has led us here.

Things to consider when looking at your opportunities

Let us be grateful for this side hustle, this after-hours project, or this idea rattling around in our head.

How many people are given the same opportunity? 

Do other people have the resources to be able to start?

How many have the support of family and friends to enable them to keep working towards this goal?

Maybe you’re stuck or you’re currently going nowhere. But we should stop comparing ourselves to others just to motivate ourselves. Instead, we should focus on how lucky we are and be grateful for the opportunity we have to keep working.

When you learn to be grateful, you usher in a wave of calm upon yourself. This will enable you to keep going for your own reasons – not for what you see in others.