Speaking of goals and productivity, here’s a recent post from Tiffany Yates Martin’s blog that I think you’ll dig: Measure Your Success by What You’re Doing, Not What You Want to Do.

Tiffany Yates Martin is a writer, writing coach, and editor who blogs on her own site at FoxPrint Editorial, as well as for Jane Friedman’s blog, Writers in the Storm (formerly), and other places. I recommend her highly.

The above post from late December reflects something I mentioned in one of my year-end look backs. Martin starts by relating how she recently fell into a social media FOMO-scroll, but then surprises the reader by admitting that the feed she viewed was her own. While she didn’t intend to vanity-scroll her own posts, she found pleasure in looking back on what she did, rather than focusing on what her year lacked.

I had that same experience this year. Yes, I admit I’ve scrolled back through the blog, mostly in amazement that I wrote something every day for a year and actually showed it to people. I began the year feeling vulnerable and a bit egotistical and maybe a little foolish – what could I possibly say that needed to live forever on the internet? Does the world need its 100-millionth blogger? And yet, scrolling backwards, I was proud of myself for keeping my commitment (440 posts!) and actually quite pleased with how a few of them turned out. I did occasionally have something to say and I didn’t do a bad job of it.

Like Martin, I experienced anti-FOMO. I didn’t have blog-envy because I had created my own space. I didn’t miss out on anything, because I’d actually accomplished what I set out to do.

Martin also suggests another benefit from stacking your achievements. “Realize that you’re only seeing the highlights, and as impressive as your life looks on your social media feeds, you know the interstices: the mundane, dull, difficult,” she writes. “Remind yourself that’s what other people’s posts—and lives—are too.”

Even when I’m creatively active, even when I feel most content, my life has its crap moments. I have lonely nights, days when my job sucks, and times when I don’t have a good creative mindset. I get bored, I lose my temper, I say something shitty, I find moldy food in the refrigerator. Most of this doesn’t go on the blog, and it’s good to remember that other people don’t put their lowest moments on the internet either. No matter how great someone’s life looks online, they all have hours of heartache, fear, and disappointment.

So, celebrate what you have. Look back on what you accomplished, without counting up what you didn’t. And don’t wait until next year to reflect on what you’re achieving today. Be proud of yourself now. Enjoy the moment and live in the memories you’re making.