10 Reasons to Celebrate Small Achievements
Reasons to celebrate
Why It's Important to celebrate Daily Achievements That Bring Us Closer to Our Goals
From an Early Age, We Are Exposed to Many Celebrations:
Family, social, work, cultural. We celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, promotions, graduations, national holidays. We celebrate when we win competitions or receive recognition. We celebrate when we secure a new contract. We celebrate when we finally run that 5K. We celebrate when our children take their first step. There are plenty of reasons. Celebration is an integral part of our lives.
Therefore, We Must Incorporate Celebration as an Integral Part of Our Experience as Entrepreneurs:
When we work for someone else, we get promoted and celebrate, we get a raise and celebrate, we are praised for a job well done and celebrate. This helps us feel good about ourselves and our work.
When We Work Alone, It’s Harder to Celebrate:
However, when we work on our own, sometimes we focus so much on the final goal and the day-to-day effort that we forget to celebrate the progress. We don’t have a boss to pat us on the back or send us a recognition email, and since we don’t send it to ourselves, the moments of celebration are reduced.
Of course, there are moments of celebration that are evident, even if we are our own bosses. If we secure an excellent contract, if we get published in an important magazine, if a client expresses special satisfaction, if we make a good sale. But often, there are many achievements that go unnoticed.
So, Today We Will Dedicate a Few Minutes to Thinking About the Habit of Celebrating Small Achievements:
Those that are not the fulfillment of THE GOAL itself, but are a reflection of effort and undoubtedly bring us closer to the objective.
When we celebrate something, we take a moment to recognize what has been done. We stop on the path and instead of looking forward, focusing on the goal, and calibrating how much we still have to go and what we can do to get there better or faster, we do the exact opposite. We stop and look back. At that moment, instead of seeing the goal, we focus on the starting line and recognize everything we have done to be at the point on the path where we are. No matter how much is left to reach the goal, we realize that we have made progress.
Why Celebrate Small Victories?
I’ve done a little research and compiled a list of 10 good reasons to do so. Ten benefits that come from the mere act of celebrating a milestone, a step forward. Here they are:
Serves as Motivation: Celebrating what we have achieved gives a sense of urgency to continue and finish the project. Sometimes, along the way, the initial motivation fades. Day-to-day life slightly dims the flame with which we passionately embarked on this entrepreneurial adventure. When we stop and look back, contemplating and celebrating what we have achieved, we manage to rekindle that flame and allow it to shine more brightly on the path ahead.
Provides Visibility of the Project, Shows Progress: Small achievements can go unnoticed because they are small. However, the accumulation of achievements gives visibility to progress and allows us to "crow" a little about what we have achieved.
Helps to Keep Seeing the Big Picture, the Goal: To celebrate, we necessarily take a bit of distance. We leave the urgency of the moment and, reflecting on what we have achieved, we also see more clearly the direction we are heading.
Allows Evaluation of Performance Based on Time: It allows us to assess, based on the time it has taken us to get where we are, how much time it will take to complete the goal. With this, we evaluate our performance and realize if we need to make adjustments.
Forces Accountability: It is a moment of evaluation. When we stop and celebrate, we are necessarily listing the achievements. We hold ourselves accountable to ourselves or our partners or collaborators, and make a clear list of everything that has been done.
Provides a Standard, a Basis for Execution for Future Projects: When we celebrate an achievement, we establish a reference for what is possible to achieve. This helps us set much clearer goals in future projects.
Promotes Gratitude: When we celebrate, we feel grateful for the achievement being celebrated. Gratitude, as a habit, has a direct positive impact on our productivity. So, when we celebrate, by increasing our gratitude, we are positively impacting potential future achievements. You can read a previous article on gratitude and its positive effect on our work at this link.
Strengthens the Team: When we have a team, whether employees, collaborators, partners, clients, or suppliers, celebrating achievements together promotes teamwork and collaboration.
Increases the Feeling of Well-Being: Celebrating makes us feel good. It gives us reasons to be happy.
Creates Positive Memories: When we celebrate an achievement, we associate that event with a pleasant memory, something that, when it comes back to our mind for any reason later in life, will be recognized as a positive experience beneficial for the development of our venture.
How to Celebrate the Achievements of Our Ventures?
The options are endless and will always depend on what best suits your lifestyle, personality, and type of venture.
However, we are not necessarily talking about grand celebrations that require time, expense, and extensive planning. Of course, if your venture is celebrating 10 years, for example, you will want to celebrate it in style and plan with time and resources.
However, there are small habits of celebrating small achievements. Simple gestures that allow you to enjoy some of the benefits we have discussed, without having to throw a huge party.
Write Them Down: The simplest thing you can do to celebrate your achievements is to list them and write them down. Sometimes we don’t realize how much we have done until we sit down and make a list.
Share Them: Individual celebration is pleasant, but shared, it multiplies. Tell others about your achievements. Share them with the people most involved in your venture or most significant in your life. It’s pleasant to give good news, and even more so when we share the good things we have achieved.
Cross Them Off a List: I’ve said it before, one of the things I like most about making to-do lists is the gratifying feeling of being able to cross off things already achieved. This task can become a small daily ritual of intimate celebration of your achievements. You can read my article on the habit of making to-do lists at this link.
Treat Yourself or Give Yourself a Gift: Take advantage and use this achievement as an excuse to buy that book you’ve wanted so much, or to go to that restaurant you’ve liked and reserved for a special occasion. Reward yourself.
Take a Break: A good rest is one of the best rewards for great work. Go to a spa, get a massage, take a day off, go to the movies, stay home doing nothing, go shopping, spend the afternoon with your kids. Whatever your version of “rest” and “break” is (it can be diametrically different for each person), celebrate your achievements with small breaks of celebration.
What Are You Celebrating Today?
Share in the comments the achievements you are celebrating these days and tell us how you plan to mark that moment of recognition.