Have You Rewarded Yourself Lately?
In honor of the celebration that many of us were part of this past weekend, I want to introduce a topic I have not written about very often: celebrating your success! This can really boost your confidence while helping to keep you motivated on your journey…
Children are often rewarded with a certificate of achievement for good work at school. Parents reward them for doing a good job or for accomplishing some task, large or small. We celebrate their milestones like birthdays and graduations; we feel their enthusiasm as they conquer a fear or overcome an obstacle.
But as we enter adulthood, celebrating our achievements is an activity often lost to time, right along with crayons and coloring books.
Think about it: when was the last time you rewarded yourself by celebrating something you accomplished? As adults, we may still celebrate what we perceive as “major” accomplishments – a big promotion at work, a retirement, a notable award or other recognition.
In fact, even many of the big accomplishments get lost on our goal-setting mentalities: we succeed in achieving some goal- however big – we have set out for ourselves and what do we do? We proceed immediately with setting a new goal – without taking the time to acknowledge ourselves for having achieved the original one. No wonder many of us are often so dissatisfied.
When we miss out on celebrating the small successes that lead us on our journey to much loftier achievements, we also miss out on the amazing benefits – a big confidence boost and new motivation – that the practice offers.
Propel Forward by Reflecting Back
If you want to reap the benefits of all that you’ve accomplished, I have a simple strategy for you:
At the end of each day, reflect upon and write down what you’ve achieved. Try not to leave anything out. You might even consider creating a few sections – one for larger achievements, one for smaller ones – even separate out personal and business accomplishments if you wish.
The important part is to write it down. Over time, you’ll be able to use this as a visual tool to show just how far you’ve come.
More often than not, we’re our own worst enemies. It isn’t that other people fail to recognize all that we achieve – sometimes we ourselves are the culprits. We become so driven to push forward, we forget that taking time out in reflection is part of a truly effective strategy to really get ahead.
5 Fun Ways to Celebrate
Now, get out there and start celebrating all those accomplishments! Here are some fun ideas to get you started:
- Get social about it! Tweet about your accomplishment or share with your friends on Facebook to let them in on the good news.
- Schedule an outing with your friends. And if they’re really lucky, maybe you’ll treat them to lunch or dinner!
- Sneak some time away to do something that you really love, but hardly ever have time to do – a favorite hobby, a weekend retreat…
- Set milestones for larger goals, then plan to do something nice for yourself each time a milestone is reached – a new outfit, a spa day…the list is endless!
- Celebrate – and motivate! Encourage a friend or someone you know to reach her own goals. Offer support and ideas to send her in the right direction.
If Celebrating You and Your Success sounds like it would be something very different or new for you to do – if it sounds like a BOLD move – then you should be receiving my Bold Move of the Week. Each week you will be inspired to take bold action in a simple, concrete way. Celebrate yourself by signing up here for your Bold Move of the Week!
Images courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Colleen Slaughter, Proud Executive Coach to the UN World Food Program, the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
As an Executive Coach for Women in Leadership and Transformational Facilitator, my intention is to help leaders in positions of high influence to understand their worth at a profound level.
Supporting women leaders to truly thrive and step into their greatness, while succeeding in male-dominated industries and spaces is my native genius.
My technique and approach show you how to achieve incredible career success without compromising any part of who you are and what makes you magnificent.