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Life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated. Celebrating a birthday, wedding or anniversary are the typical celebrations we all enjoy. Do you celebrate your victories in life? Have you set a goal to lose 20 pounds in three months and accomplished it? Do you have an idea and mapped it out to make it a reality? How about painting the six images in a series? Write the first chapter of your book? Visit the gym every day you had scheduled? Did you go out to photograph nature and got those amazing shots you were hoping for? Create an awesome dessert that would be perfect for your bakery or restaurant? These are the moments we should celebrate.
Many of us wait until we have completed the entire goal before we celebrate. Instead of celebrating each section of weight you wanted to lose you stare at the larger goal and though you did well in those first few months the larger number overwhelms us and we don’t complete or get discouraged during the process.
“A good life is a collection of happy moments.” – Denis Waitley
Some goals or dreams are huge hurdles and if you don’t take a moment to celebrate the small wins how are you enjoying the journey and process?
When you complete one step in many to reach a goal and you take the time to celebrate that step before you know it you have encouraged yourself to proceed and accomplish more. A great motivator is action. When you make something happen and you can see those consistent steps are making progress, you end up inspiring yourself to want to take more action.
How you celebrate is up to you and depends on the goal you are trying to accomplish. If you are on a weight loss journey food may not be the best choice of items to pick for a celebration. A new shirt or jeans will do wonders for your spirit. If you completed ten chapters to your book, then buying a book could be a great way to celebrate. If you landed a client that will improve your future financial needs then a fun dessert might be in order. You get to choose your rewards along the way. Setting up a reward to celebrate how far you have come will make your journey more enjoyable. You will look forward to completing that book, losing the weight, starting that new business and so forth.
“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24
When we take the time to celebrate and include others that support your journey you are also showing them that their support means a great deal. You show how thankful you are for those in your life willing to sacrifice to let you chase that dream or help you succeed on this journey. We each have a family, friends and loved ones that encourage us, support us and push us when we are struggling and want to give up. That’s what makes it so special when you take a moment to celebrate your wins. The how is not as important as taking the time to do it. You will look back on this as a wonderful memory of your journey to your win.
Here are a few things you can do to celebrate!
1. Say Thank you! – Others that support you, encourage you or help you on the journey when you are struggling is a great way to express your thanks and lift their spirits and your own. This allows you to reflect on the different ways others have sacrificed, supported or encouraged you when going after your goal had those struggling moments and they helped you over come them. How you express your thanks is up to you. It could be just the words, a dinner out or some small gift. Make this item based on your income and what you can afford.
2. Small Rewards – Your goals should have milestones and when you accomplish one of those moments setting up a small reward will help keep you going. Maybe you have wanted to change your hair color or style and that could be a reward. Maybe you want to celebrate with an ice cream sundae and you invite someone that encourages you. Getting a new shirt, purse, shoes or get tickets to a movie are all things you could choose as small rewards. Don’t go crazy here and get a new wardrobe as that is something you get when you complete that win not along the way.
3. Gratitude List – Each day on your journey towards your goal you should write a gratitude list of people, places or things that help you each day push towards that goal. It could be a song you heard while exercising, or a candle you light to help you write. A special someone you are accountable to that you talk to to report in. It could be the cloudy day or a sunny day. The list of items you could be thankful for is numerous. Write three things each day and describe in a sentence or two why that’s important to you on that day. Take a moment to look back at that list when you reach that milestone so you see what blessed your life during those days of your journey to that point. It will help encourage you and see all the various things or people that helped you when you most needed them.
4. Halfway there celebrations – No matter the goal there is a halfway point on the journey. It could be when you have completed that rough draft of your book and you now have to edit and begin the next phase to completion. Perhaps when you lose half the weight you wanted or when you get a certain number of customers. Maybe it’s a financial goal in your business. Plan a special dinner or go to a concert at this point. It’s a larger reward, and it signifies you are on your way and making huge progress. The trick is if you plan a special event such as this and you haven’t made it half way then you don’t allow yourself to go until you have. You may have to change your schedule, keep an open mind and be flexible on this journey. Failures and setbacks happen and just help you grow.
5. Plan a trip – When you complete a huge goal do a bigger celebration such as a vacation or trip. Don’t go on that vacation or trip until you have completed that goal. This is also a great way to help motivate you to want to complete that goal, and it gives you something to look forward to when all of your milestones are accomplished. You reached your weightless goal, your book launched, you hit a financial goal in your business, produced a certain number of art pieces in a series into prints and so forth.
Celebrate your successes. Find humor in your failures. – Sam Walton
Turn your dreams into goals and begin the small steps to make them happen. Grow in the times of failure or setbacks and look at those moments as learning curves you had to get past before progress could continue. Have an open mind and flexibility in your plans, review them, make corrections and focus to reach those milestones. The steps for every goal is taking action every day towards it and being disciplined and consistent with your efforts. In the process you will celebrate those wins and have a life full of memorable moments that provide joy, inspiration and accomplishment. There are no right or wrong ways to go about reaching a goal or even celebrating the steps along the way. It’s all up to you how you do this, just make it something you will want to reach and do to make your life full of those happy moments you look forward to.
What goals are you working towards? Do you have milestones you can celebrate along your journey? Have you considered how you will celebrate? Leave a comment below letting me know what your goal is and how you plan to celebrate. Your comment could help others with new ways to celebrate and encourage someone to continue taking action.
Blessings!
Lisa
