I was having an insanely busy day today at Blackbaud. Calendar stacked back to back to back. And then during a quick pause in my day, I flipped through my email and smiled when I saw an email from our fabric cutter. All of the solid fabrics are finally cut and ready to go for the First 100! This is a huge deal. And yet, in the moment when it happened – or rather in the moment when I got the message about it being completed – you probably couldn’t have seen the BIGNESS of just how huge a milestone this actually was. All of those phone calls, all of those emails, all of those searches on Maker’s Row, and then more phone calls, and then finally finding Cut-Form, and then more emails, and then more work, and then shipping fabric, and then more revisions, and then more phone calls, and then all of the sudden — it’s shipping. This milestone, one that we have worked on for a long time, just like that: done. I’ve had the joy of watching lots of these milestones be achieved. And for me they often happen at a time when I can’t drop everything and throw a little party.
3-minute Milestone
- I receive an email, or a package, or a message (depends on the milestone). I open it, I read (or see) that something’s complete. I take one min or so to read the full email, sift through the package, check the message.
- I smile. Often I find myself in strange locations when these kinds of milestones appear. Sometimes I’ll close my eyes, and just breathe. Sometimes I jump out of my skin, scream at the top of my lungs, and pump one fist raised in the air above me. Success! 1 min.
- Write a quick follow up email. About 1 minute.
And then yes. Sometimes it’s hard, but I have to keep moving with my day, or whatever task it is that I’m immersed in at the time. 3 minute milestones. They have become a fuel for me and our progress in Badass Backpacks. It’s really just the same as any other day or any other moment, except there’s something magical about progress like this.
Of magic doors there is this, you do not see them, even as you are passing through. – Anais Nin