A few thoughts here, but fair warning that I'm no psychologist. :)
I find it helpful to work towards accepting where I am at and judging myself from there. Relatively speaking, taking a small step is a huge step if I have not taken any steps lately. It's insufficient for absolute success, but for relative success it's great. I think it is surprisingly hard to know and accept where one is at and that it requires active reflection to get there. It's not hard to do, but it's easy for dissonance to seep in and not challenge it, like being surprised when you look yourself in the mirror, and it's difficult to build from an unstable foundation.
Sometimes I'll be running low, stop brushing my teeth, and then beat myself up over it. Later, I'll brush my teeth. After that, I'll go to be upset at myself for having not brushed, realize I did, and have a nice burst of happiness. I wasn't happy to have brushed my teeth because I considered that the bare minimum, but I sure was happy to not beat myself up over it again. The satisfaction was just a bit delayed.
In general, I think it's a lot more important to be concerned about direction and momentum than destination. Small wins correct your direction and increase your momentum. They keep you agile. What more to want? An energy/momentum cost/benefit analysis? Don't do small wins that take a lot of effort and clearly low effort wins are always great. Your desired destination is going to keep changing throughout life because you're an aging human. So don't sweat the destination too much - just focus on being robust.
I find it helpful to work towards accepting where I am at and judging myself from there. Relatively speaking, taking a small step is a huge step if I have not taken any steps lately. It's insufficient for absolute success, but for relative success it's great. I think it is surprisingly hard to know and accept where one is at and that it requires active reflection to get there. It's not hard to do, but it's easy for dissonance to seep in and not challenge it, like being surprised when you look yourself in the mirror, and it's difficult to build from an unstable foundation.
Sometimes I'll be running low, stop brushing my teeth, and then beat myself up over it. Later, I'll brush my teeth. After that, I'll go to be upset at myself for having not brushed, realize I did, and have a nice burst of happiness. I wasn't happy to have brushed my teeth because I considered that the bare minimum, but I sure was happy to not beat myself up over it again. The satisfaction was just a bit delayed.
In general, I think it's a lot more important to be concerned about direction and momentum than destination. Small wins correct your direction and increase your momentum. They keep you agile. What more to want? An energy/momentum cost/benefit analysis? Don't do small wins that take a lot of effort and clearly low effort wins are always great. Your desired destination is going to keep changing throughout life because you're an aging human. So don't sweat the destination too much - just focus on being robust.