Goals are wonderful! It feels amazing to accomplish something important and to celebrate when that happens.

But you have to realize that 99% of the time is not spent AT the goal, but on the hard work to get there. And that can be a slog.

Your team can get worn down by all the hard work, and lose their inspiration.

It’s one thing for you to keep shouting the message, “This is so important! Keep going!” And that’s a good thing to do. But people may feel like the goal is unachievable because they lack the larger picture that you have.

There are more ways for you to help.

One way is to appreciate, even celebrate, the small steps along the way. On your trip up the mountain you might see an inspiring view that gives you just a moment of respite before continuing on.

Another tool you have is to break the journey into smaller pieces. It might be a project progress chart, or an ever-increasing fundraising thermometer on the wall, or even gold stars growing to fill up the slide. And remember that not everything is measured in money – few people are motivated by dollar signs the way you might be.

One wonderful motivator might be creating mini-celebrations along the way. When I was leading many-month projects, I always tried to create key checkpoints along the way and to acknowledge achievement of those lesser goals.

But let’s not get totally caught up in that goal. Let’s remember that the journey itself can be what matters the most. This is especially important when the goal is harder to measure (“we’re working toward a world where peace thrives”) or is never fully achieved (“we’re creating an equitable society”). If we wait for the achievement, we’ll work our entire lives and never be able to celebrate it.

It’s really about the journey of working together on something which is important. Or the small signs of progress despite overwhelming odds.

It’s still important work, right?