Celebrate Your Small Wins!
How do we celebrate our victories? How do we positively acknowledge the completion of a task or goal? Do we even do as such?
I was at a birthday breakfast a while ago and some of us were talking about what motivates us for either the right or wrong reasons, which then moved onto celebrating goals, if I remember correctly. The main question that came up wasn't so much how many of us positively acknowledge goals but HOW? How do you even do that?
Most of the time, especially if we have a to do list, we cross things off and move straight onto the next priority. For some this is all the satisfaction we need - seeing that strikethrough or scribble across that task. For others, we need a bit more!
With that being said, below I propose four ideas of how we can celebrate our wins:
Create a visual aid for your tasks!
This is a prerequisite to everything I'm going to say. It's easier to see everything you want to achieve if you write them down. It reduces the chance of forgetting and also helps you to see if you are being over ambitious with your time. Practise giving each role time slots, allowing space for anything unexpected.
Cross and smile!
This is something I've started doing in the last year and a half or so. Instead of just crossing off my to do list, I add a smiley face too. It's helped me to spend a couple seconds celebrating what I've done instead of focussing what I haven't achieved yet. Or why not smile to yourself and take a few moments to reflect.
Completion visual
This one is for those who think back to their week and feel like they haven't accomplished anything! Why not have something you can write on weekly with everything you have done and lace it with words, doodles that encourage and uplift?
Look at what you've done and be thankful
We are thankful for life, family, friends and we express it. How often do we express thanks for the goals we've accomplished? Take some time to look at your list and say how thankful you are for their completion.
Say well done!
When I think of this, I think of "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Simply saying or whispering "well done" to yourself when you complete a task can do wonders on your approach to do other things.
BONUS: Treat yourself! Once in a while...
I say once in a while because it can be a bit difficult with time and money to treat yourself EVERY TIME you get something done. Also you don't want your main motivation for doing things to end up being treating yourself!
Have a set budget and a list for treats: that really nice shirt, new notebook, extra marshmallows with your next hot chocolate, a long relaxing bubble bath. Make it personal to you and don't break the bank!
Remember when celebrating your wins, know it doesn't matter how big or small they are. Small victories are still victories. Big victories are still victories. Medium victories are still victories. It doesn't matter the size of the victory. Celebrate it!
