Did you just sign a new customer you’ve been chasing for 2 years? Find the simple billing errors that explain why your numbers are off so much this year – simply because you forgot to bill your clients? Those accomplishments can be game-changers for a small business and truly are worth celebrating.
For the past few weeks, I’ve shared with a number of my coaching clients how I can close a $1 million contract and without missing a beat immediately turn to the next opportunity as if it’s not enough and I need to keep selling more. The reality is I rarely celebrate successes to the extent I could – even when my successes are those big game changers that deserve a bottle of champagne. Imagine how quickly I gloss over those little wins in life!
For just about everybody I know, celebrating is fun, and it feels good. In general, we tend to want to repeat activities that we enjoy. That would suggest that celebrating our successes is likely to inspire us to accomplish more. You could say then that this is reason enough to celebrate our successes in life.
There is actually a more important reason though. Accomplishing great results requires effort. It doesn’t just happen by itself. When we don’t stop to celebrate our accomplishments, we push ourselves to continue performing at peak levels – which quite frankly isn’t sustainable over time.
The sheer act of celebration then gives us the opportunity to rest and recharge rather than having us attempt to run one marathon after another without ever stopping. My Uncle Bill is a crazed runner and can finish a marathon in just a couple hours. Even he is smart enough to know not to push himself to run one or two more in sequence as if he could do so without even slowing his stride. Are you?
Whether you pop that bottle of champagne or merely take a deep breath and smile, you’ve earned it – and deserve it! It’s time to start celebrating your successes, one accomplishment at a time.
