A client of mine just finished the New York City Marathon. This was special to her for several reasons:

• This was her first marathon, and the goal to run the marathon was set in 2019
• She originally set out to run the marathon in 2020, only to have the race canceled due to COVID, and she had been training for two years
• This was a return to New York City, where she grew up (she now practices law in Chicago)
• She became a partner in her law firm while training for the marathon
• Her marathon training was set up as a stress reliever while toiling as a lawyer

A few hours after crossing the finish line in Central Park, she called me to share how emotional she felt – happy, sad, exhilarated, drained, sore, fatigued, ready to run again!

In addition to sharing her feelings with me, she wanted to talk about her next marathon and her next goal – to run faster than in New York. “This was a good first marathon, but I know I can do better,” she said. "When can I begin training again?"

How often have we been in the same position? Immediately after a major achievement, we want to move on to the next shiny object, the next ‘thing’.

My advice to her was to stop for a moment, breathe slowly and say in a loud voice: “I just completed the New York City Marathon and I will enjoy my feelings. This is enough for today!”

We discussed how she did not truly celebrate becoming a partner in her firm because of COVID and because she was named partner during the height of her marathon training. Instead of commemorating that achievement, she felt the need to train harder. We would not repeat that behavior after reaching another milestone in life.

The importance of reaching a goal is to savor the moment, feel the feelings, embrace all that just happened. Moving too quickly without recognition of what we achieve minimizes the achievement. It makes us feel we still are not ‘good enough’ and what we just accomplished was not really worth the time and effort of the arduous work to get there.

If an achievement is worth the effort to reach, it is worth time to recognize.

Yes, it is healthy to set a new goal in the future; it is more important to recognize that what we have achieved is more than good enough.