The productivity struggle we all talk about deals with not accomplishing what we want, moving things along their planned path, or organizing the myriad of things headed our way often fails to address one key area…what happens when things DO get done?

Every so often (though in today’s world it feels less and less) we have a day where things do get finished. You get a little momentum and a chore is finished or a project is completed. You feel a little burst of adrenaline and dopamine knowing you don’t have to commit your energy to worrying about that thing any longer. Then another task follows suit…and another. At some point in the day you stop, catch your breath, and go, “Damn, I got a lot done today.” Those are the successes we need to raise up.

The sense of accomplishment when a task, long on the list, is completed is so satisfying. Whether it’s a checkbox checked, a line item crossed-off, or a status changed, closing out something that has been weighing on you is the proverbial weight off your shoulders. Sometimes it’s a collection of disparate things getting done; in others it’s that mythical “flow” state for which we’re searching and have found.

Where we underestimate is the value of completing many little things. We look at the big items, the milestones, the world-shaking (ok, maybe not world shaking) tasks as the ones that deserve all our attention. But the little tasks…that’s where momentum comes from.

Daily summaries, journaling, and recurring tasks

There are tools out there that provide summaries of the tasks you have completed as part of their function. Todoist is a good example of one of those tools, though the detail provided is a bit lacking. Having a tool that gives you a measure of the little things in aggregate keeps you from discounting the value of completion.

Keeping a daily record of the tasks you complete, even the little ones, can go a long way to helping you savor the feeling of success. For example, Capacities does an excellent job of managing daily notes and then providing consolidated views so you can see everything that was noted during the week. Notion allows for databases to track completions providing a data-centric view of the items done. Workflowy gives you fast-filtered views of crossed-out items for a rapid overview. The list goes on and on. In the end, being able to go back and see what you’ve done, and how much, can be a strong positive motivator.

In many cases, tasks happen again and again. One of my favorite phrases for repeating tasks comes from an old commercial, “Lather, rinse, repeat.” Finding a way to track not only the completion of a recurring tasks, but also the consistency of completion is another powerful motivator. Many tools, Notion and Capacities for example, let you either build your own tracker or have a tracker built into the tasks themselves. In either case, seeing that bar fill longer and longer with each successful completion feels good.

Celebrate your successes and light the fire

All in all, the most important task you can complete is taking time to revel in your success, evaluate your completions, and understand what you can carry forth to complete even more.

Use the record of past success to ignite a fire under you when needed. It doesn’t work all the time, but there are moments when going back and seeing those good days, that can be enough to light the spark.