Success comes in many shapes and sizes. A success can be as small as getting out of bed when you feel totally unmotivated, or as large as landing the job of your dreams.
For some people, getting over a broken relationship is success. For others, it’s giving up smoking or earning enough to buy that shiny new BMW. Anything you managed to do that wasn’t particularly easy can be classed as a success.
The way we view success in society is interesting. We are conditioned to be competitive, to always aim higher. There is nothing wrong with aiming high, per se, but because we are always fixated on the next big thing, we often forget to spend much time reflecting on our previous achievements.
What’s more, we have been taught not to be too self-congratulatory, in order that we don’t come off as smug, or a show-off.
Why are we prone to focusing on what went wrong?
In a bid to polish ourselves up and make fewer mistakes in life, we tend to focus more on our errors. We can spend far too much time looking at what we did wrong so that we can ensure we don’t make the same mistakes again.
Although some level of reflection on mistakes is healthy, we should forgive ourselves for them. Mistakes are often an integral aspect of the route to success.
Most achievements don’t happen overnight. Achievements wouldn’t even feel like achievements if they were effortless. The point is that we don’t always instantly know the best course of action to take.
There is some level of challenge or obstacles to overcome. So it stands to reason that we will make a few mistakes on our way to success. How we view those mistakes is everything.
Celebrating success is healthy
The truth is that celebrating our successes is completely healthy. It changes the mindset to a more positive one. When we are always focused on the next big thing, we are not present – we are firmly stuck in the future.
That doesn’t leave a lot of room for appreciating the now. It’s not a great idea to have your mind immersed in the past or the future for too long… long enough to reflect a little or formulate a rough course of action is fine.
When we appreciate the present moment, it’s much easier to notice how we came to be there. For example, when you’re feeling gratitude for the job you have right now, it’s less likely that you’ll be obsessing about the next rung on the ladder. In gratitude, your mindset is geared toward what’s already good about your situation.
So what is good about it? There was a time when you were praying that you’d land this role. You put everything you had into preparing for it. When you finally got that call, you were over the moon.
Success! You did it. But how long did you celebrate for? If your success was forgotten overnight, the chances are your next one will be too.
Celebrating achievements leads to more achievements
When you celebrate your achievements in a real way, you reinforce the idea that you are someone who achieves. You are acknowledging your capabilities, your drive, and your lust for life.
This can only be positive! If you spend a little more time and effort on acknowledging those achievements, you will start to genuinely feel like a winner.
This means that there is no need to fixate endlessly on the next big thing. There are no gaps to fill for the sake of it. With this attitude, your confidence can’t help but grow.
Your next successes will start to take shape when the time is right, and you’ll already be in the perfect headspace to achieve them. You will know that whatever it is you put your mind to, you will achieve.
Here are a few ways to celebrate your successes:
- Start a gratitude/achievement diary
There are actually some great tools on the market for this. The Daily Greatness Journal is one. This helps you to list all of your past achievements, plot your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals… and track them all as you go along.
It not only keeps you focused, but it reminds you to appreciate what is great about you and your life on a daily basis.
You can just use a simple notebook if you prefer. As long as you spend some time at the end of each day listing all of your achievements – however small – you’ll achieve something big… a healthy mindset! It will be hard not to love and appreciate yourself when you constantly reflect on your own power.
Choose whichever feels like your biggest achievement that day and spend some time reflecting on it. What benefit did that bring to your life?
Thank yourself for making it happen. Over time, you’ll start to join the dots and see just how much effort and capability went into creating your wonderful life.
- Thank yourself with a gift
When you want to thank (or celebrate) another person, it’s normal to give them a gift of some kind. Why not do the same for yourself? You work hard to achieve the things you do, so the next time you have a noteworthy success, you should be sure to treat yourself.
If you busted a gut all month to get that awesome bonus, spend some of it on a spa day – or even a holiday. Take yourself out to dinner with a favourite friend at a particularly nice restaurant. It doesn’t even need to involve money – you might just invite some friends over for a drink, or spend a relaxed day in the park with a good book.
The point is that you’re doing something you love, and you’re doing it because you deserve it. Just don’t forget to tell any guests what the point of the occasion is!
- Celebrate with other people
If you’ve achieved something particularly good, make a bigger deal out of it by throwing a celebration. Let’s imagine you have successfully signed a huge deal at work – a big win for your company.
Bring your colleagues and business partners into your success story by celebrating with them. This not only encourages others to appreciate your successes but their own too. It also has the added bonus of developing relationships and business networks.
You’re encouraging a culture of patting each other on the back and aiming high in life. This can only be a positive thing! It paves the way for fresh ideas and inspiration, and what a fun way to do it. When celebrating success is the norm, the people around you will be a lot happier.
- Speak up, loud and clear
Don’t be afraid to congratulate yourself on all that you’ve overcome, and all that you’ve created in your life. You will find that by being open about your successes, you will inspire other people to go after their own. It is a great thing to help others see that they are just as powerful and capable as you are.
People with a healthy attitude will always love to see you succeed in life. Surround yourself with those kinds of people, and don’t be shy about celebrating yourself. It’s OK to be proud of what you’ve done in life.
Another way to go about this is to post about your successes publicly, in blogs and on social media. It’s hard to say whom you will inspire, but you will undoubtedly inspire some. Those who care about you will be very happy to hear about your successes in life, and the more support you get, the more likely you are to keep on giving life your all.
When you make a practice out of celebrating all your successes in life, you will feel like a strong and powerful person. The more you reinforce this idea, the fewer limitations and boundaries you’ll see. Growing as a person becomes easy, and before you know it, you’ll be looking back on your own life in awe of your own strengths.
Author Bio: Daniel Ross is part of the marketing team at Roubler — a scheduling and payroll software platform founded in Australia. Their mission is to change the way the world manages its workforces.
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