Finding Satisfaction in the Small Steps

I know many of us monkeys on this forum are very driven/ambitious individuals who are willing to go through hell and back to get that 'dream' job. But given how difficult it is to break into the industry, be it IB, PE, HF, VC, etc, we're almost always going to deal with obstacles that hinder us from achieving our goal no matter how many hours we put in. I am one of those monkeys and I find it very hard to find satisfaction in the small bits of progress that I see because my eye is always on the prize. While going to a non target school full-time, working 25 hours a week, participating in clubs, studying finance independently, it becomes hard to really take a breather to look back and be proud of the progress I made, regardless of whether or not I got that BB IBD offer.

Without rambling on too much about myself, I wanted to both remind everyone that it is important to acknowledge our hard work regardless of the outcomes it may produce because you need a bit of luck/chance as well. So if you haven't given yourself enough credit, I suggest you take yourself out for a nice beer, brief vacation, or just a decent nights rest for once.

If anyone has any specific ways they deal with the stress of always looking for the next best opportunity relating to one's future, feel free to share!