1. EachPod

Looking Back: Why Celebrating Small Wins Matters on Your Journey (Ep 294)

Author
Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes
Published
Wed 23 Jul 2025
Episode Link
None

Looking Back: Why Celebrating Small Wins Matters on Your Journey (Ep 294)

Amidst the constant rush of modern life, how often do we truly stop to acknowledge what we've accomplished? In this reflective episode, Justin shares powerful insights about the importance of pausing to celebrate our victories rather than always chasing the next goal.

Have you ever felt like you're swimming in quicksand – taking two steps forward only to fall three steps back? You're not alone. Justin explores that frustrating feeling of constantly pushing forward without seeming to make progress, and why continuing despite that feeling is actually an achievement worth celebrating. Through personal stories about his travels to Italy during his graduate studies and the "mixtapes" of memories he created afterward, he demonstrates how easily we forget our own remarkable journeys.

The conversation delves into our tendency toward "mind swimming" – that overwhelming sensation of frantically moving from task to project, message to email, without ever feeling caught up. Justin vulnerably shares his own mental health journey, revealing how it took him over 30 years to admit he needed help, and the exhausting but necessary process of sharing his 138 different troubling thoughts with therapists before healing could begin.

Perhaps most striking is Justin's perspective on impact versus metrics. "If you have 1,000 downloads but all those viewers are passively watching, then I'm not doing my job," he reflects, contrasting this with the profound value of deeply reaching even a handful of listeners. This philosophy has guided Voices for Voices to nearly 300 episodes, with impact measured not by numbers but by meaningful connections.

Whether you're feeling overwhelmed by life's constant demands or simply need permission to acknowledge how far you've come, this episode offers a refreshing reminder that sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is simply stop, reflect, and honor our journey – with all its highs, lows, and everything in between.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome to Voices for Voices

5:00 Pushing Through Life's Quicksand

9:35 Unconscious Decision Making

16:10 Remembering Our Accomplishments

27:10 Give Yourself Credit

32:52 Sharing Our Pain and Finding Help

36:20 The Value of One Genuine Connection

#SmallWins #CelebrateSuccess #JourneyToSuccess #MindsetMatters #PersonalGrowth #MotivationMonday #GratitudeAttitude #SelfImprovementJourney #LifeMilestones #PositivityChallenge #AchievementUnlocked #ReflectAndGrow #EmbraceTheProcess #DailyMotivationTips #WinningMindset #justiceforsurvivors #justice4survivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #factoverfictionmatters #transparency #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether

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