Some of the reasons you don’t celebrate might be:
- You feel you can’t slow down, you’ve got to get onto the next thing, the next accomplishment.
- You’ve set such a high bar that no matter how great the feat is it’s never good enough. You focus on the small things that didn’t go perfect while the rest of it went well.
- You’re scared that if you pause to celebrate, you’ll take your eyes off the bigger goal and start slacking.
- You’ve been taught or conditioned by your upbringing or environment to be modest; celebrating is seen as arrogant or a way to brag.
- You think you can only celebrate the really big life-altering goals so you ignore the smaller wins.
The thing is that taking the time to recognize and celebrate your success has many, many benefits. Here are 10 ways that savoring these past successes can benefit your life:
1. You can refer back to your wins and relive the feeling of accomplishment you had. This can give you a confidence boost at a time when you might be feeling down. Make a list and post it somewhere you’ll see frequently like your refrigerator or office. Write each win on a post-it, fold it and put it into a bowl. Draw the from bowl whenever you need a little boost.
2. By recognizing wins, you can reflect on what went into the win and use it in future efforts. What made you successful? What can you replicate from this experience? What did you learn? Pull out the key pieces that made it a win and build on those pieces to create even more and bigger wins!
3. Celebrating can inspire those around you to celebrate. Just like the way taking risks can inspire others to step out of their comfort zone and take their own risks, celebrating your wins can help others reflect on and recognize their own wins. Don’t be afraid to put it out into the world that you’re celebrating. Toot your own horn publicly on social media platforms for the world to see and while you’re doing it ask others to share what they’re celebrating too. Spread the celebration love!
4. Identifying and celebrating your wins can help lead you to your life purpose. Think of your life purpose as a key theme of your life. Start by reflecting on what you feel your wins are and uncovering what patterns you can pull out. Anything stand out about what you did or how you approached something? Maybe someone you were working with found amazing value in what you did for them. What about that felt great to you? What was effortless about that interaction?
5. Talking about your wins can encourage others to take what you learned and apply it to their lives. Through celebrating and recognizing our accomplishments we can teach others what helped us be successful. Maybe you found huge growth in your career or business by attending a networking event or joining a club. By celebrating the growth and putting it out into the world others in your industry or career field can take what you learned and give it a try themselves. In this way, your celebrating is serving not only you but also others!
6. Celebrating our wins provides recognition to those who helped us with the achievement. Often our success is tied to the work we’ve done with others whether it was something we collaborated on or someone was cheering us on from the sidelines (like life coaches do!). Be celebrating the win it shows those around us that we value and appreciate their help.
7. The effect of celebrating can have several different positive impacts on our brains which can, in turn, lead to positive changes. This is according to a Psychology Today article. The levels of oxytocin and endorphins are elevated when celebrating. This can facilitate experimentation and risk-taking which can result in greater success or learning. Serotonin is also elevated which results in greater focus, innovation, and motivation. The release of dopamine during celebrations can set you up for higher levels of concentration and allow you to filter out or ignore distracting information. All of these chemical reactions in our brains drive positive outcomes and even more success and wins.
8. “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey. To me, this quote speaks to the power of a positive mindset. Celebrating your wins is one way to cultivate a positive mindset. By having a positive mindset and pointing out the positive by celebrating, you’re actually starting to train your brain to focus on other positive things. It’s almost like when someone tells you to not think about purple elephants, your mind can’t help but think about and focus on those purple elephants. A positive mindset begets a positive mindset. Finding things to celebrate encourages our brains to find further things to celebrate.
9. By accomplishing smaller and more immediate tasks and recognizing those wins you’re building confidence and momentum to continue to tackle future tasks. You don’t have to find big meaty accomplishments in your life to celebrate, recognizing the smaller wins can have a big impact too. One of the best ways to accomplish goals is by breaking them down into manageable tasks. These smaller wins can build up over time and result in you accomplishing that bigger goal you’d set for yourself.
10. Celebrating your wins can draw positive attention to you. For me this one is super scary and feels awkward and uncomfortable but if you’re an entrepreneur and running your own company or if you want to advance your career you have to be willing to point out the great things you’ve accomplished. Don’t wait for others to recognize those accomplishments. Be assertive, own your own destiny and promote yourself through celebrating.
So how are you planning on bringing more celebration into your life?