By Leo Babauta

Too often we are hard on ourselves and feel bad about our lack of progress. We feel guilty that we’ve missed a couple of workouts, or that our progress on our goal has stalled, or that we slipped up and ate some really fattening stuff.

But that’s looking at the glass as half empty, and it is almost guaranteed to hinder your progress towards your goal.

Look at the glass as half full — look back and see what you’ve done so far, and feel proud of your progress. Be happy about how far you’ve come so far, even if you have a long ways to go yet.

Take myself as an example. You might have read my story … and looking back, it seems like I’ve achieved a lot in a short amount of time. But there were plenty of times when I missed workouts, and felt plenty guilty. There were times when I ate unhealthy, and felt bad. There were times when my organization system went to pieces, when my email inbox had 10 messages sitting there, not acted upon.

But if I let those bad feelings have any power over me, I’d probably have given up then and there, and never have reached my destination.

The key is to step back, and look back on what you’ve done. Sure, I missed some workouts, but look at how many I’ve done! And it wasn’t long ago when I wasn’t even a runner at all! Instead of beating yourself up, celebrate your success, no matter how small!

We will always feel guilty about what we haven’t done, but it is important that we remind ourselves that it is only a temporary setback. I always tell myself that it’s just a small bump on a long road.

Take the long view, both behind you and ahead of you. Small glitches can’t derail a train as powerful as you!