57. Why Your Progress Matters—Even If No One Notices

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Ever skipped celebrating your progress because no one else noticed? In this heartfelt episode, host Jenny Lytle, RN shares a powerful real-life moment that sparked an essential reminder: your steps still count—even if they’re not being tracked by your watch.

From fitness apps to productivity guilt to missed deadlines, Jenny opens up about the quiet pressure we put on ourselves to prove our progress. And she delivers a gentle but firm truth: you don't need external validation to know you're making meaningful change.

Perfect for nurses, caregivers, and high-achievers navigating burnout and busy schedules, this episode is your invitation to pause, reflect, and give yourself more grace.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why your actions matter even when no one sees them
• How to stop discrediting small wins
• The importance of self-compassion over self-judgment
• How to reframe procrastination with purpose
• A simple mindset shift to reduce overwhelm this week

🎧 Whether you're drying your hair, walking between tasks, or squeezing in one more “to-do,” this episode will meet you right where you are—and remind you that you are enough.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
nurse's break room with JennyLytle RN.
Today I am so excited to sharethis with you because I was just
upstairs getting ready and Iwas drying my hair part way and
then I got kind of hot and Ithought, you know what, I'm
gonna go in there and get my teagoing.
So I paused and I went in andpoured some of the hot water in

(00:25):
there so that I could do that.
And I walked back and forth acouple of times and I thought,
well, you know what, the extrasteps aren't going to hurt me.
And then here's the kicker.
I thought, well, I don't havemy watch on.
So I've worn a Fitbit for yearsand a month or so ago it was
having issues not charging.
And I thought, you know what?

(00:45):
I want to go ahead and considergetting an Apple Watch.
My son found me a great deal onone and so I got it and I love
it.
But this is something thathappened with the Fitbit as well
.
There were times when Iwouldn't have it on.
And I think, well, it doesn'tcount, like my steps don't count
because they're not counting onthe watch.

(01:07):
And that hit me right then likehow ridiculous that is, and I
think that every time I'm like,okay, like they still count,
it's still good for me, right.
But I still have those thoughtsthat pop up and I feel like I'm
probably not the only one, andI'm so sure that I'm not the
only one, that I stopped what Iwas doing, grabbed my computer,

(01:29):
came downstairs and startedrecording this because I didn't
wanna forget what I was thinking, because it's so important.
The things that we tellourselves, the things that we
think don't matter, if only weknow about it.
I think that's one of the badthings that social media has
done for us for sure.
We feel like it has to be outthere for everybody to see, or

(01:56):
maybe at work, it's for our bossto recognize it, or somebody to
give us this pat on the back,when in reality we know and
that's enough.
Like the things that we'redoing, right, the things that
we're doing that improve ourhealth, that give us a break

(02:19):
when we need a break, thosematter.
Whether anybody else knowsabout them or not, it doesn't
matter if it's steps on a watchor if it's just steps that you
took.
It all helps to make you better, helps to make me better, but
we don't always recognize thatwhen it's just us that knows

(02:43):
about it.
And, in reality, how importantis that really?
Because you may be able to foolother people.
You may be able to present animage that makes other people
think you've got it all together.
I know occasionally I do thatMost of the time, I'm pretty

(03:03):
open about the fact that I don'thave it all together.
I've made a lot of mistakes.
I continue to make mistakes,but I've learned so much from
them and that's part of thereason that I'm so open about it
is because I want others to beable to learn from that as well.
We know our shortcomings and weknow our challenges and we can
be so incredibly hard onourselves.

(03:24):
We know our challenges and wecan be so incredibly hard on
ourselves.
Right now, I'm listening to abook by Dr Christine Neff and
another gentleman, and I don'tremember it off the top of my
head, but it is aboutself-compassion, and most of us

(03:44):
are really good at beingcompassionate toward other
people, especially if you'resomeone who happens to be in the
healthcare space, in thecaregiver space, that's
something that is just natural.
However, having thatself-compassion, giving
ourselves grace, givingourselves a break, is important,
without judgment is somethingthat we can struggle with a

(04:08):
little bit more.
And so, you know, I'veencouraged you before and I will
continue to do so, because Iknow I need the reminder myself
as well when you're having thatnegative self talk, when you're
having those times when youthink, well, you know what like
this is, this is little, itdoesn't really matter.
This small thing that I did,you know, yeah, I did it and

(04:32):
I've been putting it off, butI've got these 25 other things
that I haven't done, or maybe Idid it, but I did it later than
I was supposed to.
You know, actually I just hadthat happen.
I am going to be part of asummit coming up here shortly
and I was putting together mypresentation and I am frequently

(04:52):
a last minute gal.
I have a tendency to overbookmyself a bit and I thought, okay
, you know what, I was rightthere in the homestretch and
then I realized I didn't reallyknow how I wanted to record it
with the slides.
I knew that I didn't want it tobe just slides.
I wanted it to be like a littlepicture of me in there, so that
it wasn't just staring atslides.

(05:13):
But I knew I wanted to useslides because I can get off
track if I don't.
So I recorded the whole thing.
It went pretty well.
I was like, hey, this isawesome.
And I went upstairs to edit itand realized that all I had was
the slides.
It was just the slides.
And then you heard my voice andI thought, okay, like the

(05:33):
content is good, but that's notwhat I want.
I want it to be something thatfeels more relatable, and part
of it is I do my own tech stuff,so I'm not super techie.
But I thought, okay, it's like10 minutes till time for it to
be turned in.
I had time to edit it and getit done and I realized that I

(05:55):
was either going to have it belate or I was going to have it
be good, the way that I wantedit to be, and so I chose with
going late and I felt bad aboutthat.
In reality, there's plenty oftime there, but she had
requested a specific deadlineand I felt bad because I
couldn't meet that because I hadprocrastinated.

(06:17):
But I ended up getting itturned in.
It was about an hour and 45minutes late and I'm proud of
the way that it turned out.
It is not super polished, it isnot super scripted, because
that's just not how I am, but itis the way that I wanted to
show up.
And so, even in those times whenmaybe we're not proud of the

(06:40):
entire process, we can stillcelebrate the thing that we did
well, and we don't always haveto have that qualifier of well.
I know I did all these thingswrong, but at least I did this
one thing right.
No, just celebrate.
Hey, you know what I really did?
A great job on this, that'sokay.

(07:00):
That's what you would say to afriend, and that's what I
encourage you to say to yourselfwhen you're struggling with
those type of things.
What would you say to a closefriend who was telling you that
story?
Would you say, well, yeah, youshould have done a great job.
You had an extra hour and 45minutes, or well, you know, you
shouldn't have procrastinated.
Those things may be true, butare they really helpful?

(07:21):
Are they helpful now?
Are they helpful in the longrun?
And the answer is no.
So this week, I just encourageyou to really think about the
things that you're not givingyourself credit for, or the
things that you're brushing offor you feel like don't matter,
because maybe other peoplearen't seeing them.

(07:42):
Now, I know this might seem alittle counterintuitive based on
what I'm saying, but maybereach out to me, let me know
what one of those things is.
If this is something that, haveyou dealt with?
This too?
Is this something that's helpedto maybe shift or reshape those
thoughts a little bit?

(08:02):
I would just love to know.
Am I the only one who doesthings like this and spoiler?
I've talked to enough people.
I know I'm not the only one,but I really think it probably
is a lot of us.
But I'd love to hear from you.
And, of course, until next time.
Remember self-care isn'tselfish.
It's essential if we wannacontinue to care for others and

(08:24):
live our best lives.
Have a great week.