Do Look Back

Do Look Back

"Don’t Look Back" is the title song from one of my husband’s favorite albums by Boston. I like it too. The song says:
"I can tell there's no more time left to criticize. I've seen what I could not recognize. Everything in my life was leading me on. Now I see what I am is holding me down. I'll turn it around."

Kind of seems like the author is looking back, doesn’t it? But that’s not a bad thing.

In his book 10x, Dr. Benjamin Hardy shares this simple yet powerful reminder:
"Take a deep breath. Exhale. You’re in the game. You’re making amazing progress. You’re exactly where you should be."

That line hit me. Because isn’t it so easy to focus on how far we still have to go and forget to honor how far we’ve come?

The Power of Measuring Your Gains

Measuring your progress—or as Hardy puts it, your gains—isn’t just about keeping score. It’s about framing your past in a way that honors your journey.

If you don’t measure your gains, you might feel like you’re chasing the horizon, that point where earth meets sky, always just out of reach. You can travel thousands of miles and still feel like you’re falling short.

But when you stop and look back, you realize how much progress you’ve made.

Happiness Isn’t on the Horizon

This idea reminds me of something Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, author, and poet, once said:
"There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way."

Happiness isn’t waiting for you at some distant point in the future. It’s here. It’s now. It’s found in the simple act of pausing to recognize what you’ve accomplished and giving yourself credit for it. Don’t turn happiness into a “horizon” thing.

As FlyLady says:
"You are not behind! I don’t want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where you are."

My Takeaways

Measuring your gains isn’t just a productivity hack. It’s an act of self-love.

In my life, it’s easy to think about what still needs to be done for our business. My goodness—we’re working on a better website, developing an app, I still want to interview hundreds of entrepreneurs, we’re developing tours, trying to figure out marketing platforms... on and on and on. It’s overwhelming and almost debilitating to think of all the work ahead if I let those thoughts creep in.

But when I look back—my goodness! We started a business. We created a website. We bought a trolley. We’ve hired staff! We’ve delighted thousands of people with our new creation. We’ve made some stellar progress!

So let’s remember, now and then, to “Look Back” at our journey, appreciate what we’ve done, and realize: we’re not behind, we’re not lost, and we’re exactly where we need to be.