On what can be a long and tough road to success, celebrating your key accomplishments along the way can provide both an emotional and mental break from the effort that went into winning. It can certainly be cathartic and energising to let off steam by, perhaps, throwing a party, or treating yourself and your team to some other kind of reward in recognition of your hard work.
You should also try to get more from your reward, by building in an element of sustainable long-term personal and professional growth. If you reward yourself with a short break, for example, make time for deep reflection on what you have achieved and why you succeeded.
Similarly, if you have a team behind you, then it can be productive to take them away out of the work environment, so they can relax and have fun together.
This encourages bonding, and you could also incorporate some kind of teambuilding exercise, while also analysing the reasons behind the latest success.
In this way, celebrating becomes part of a commitment to ongoing improvement. The insights that come from analysing the success journey can prove to be highly motivational. It can also work wonders for building self-confidence. The boost that such celebration brings can be a contributing factor to setting bigger goals that stretch you to your limits. Success is often addictive – once people have tasted it, they are left wanting more.
Viewing celebration as launch pad to the next goal is a wise move, however avoid taking it too far as you then move into the realms of over indulgence. Dwelling too much on what you have achieved should be avoided.
Memories of celebrating victory can also act as an effective antidote when you fall short of the mark. During tough times, casting your mind back to how good success felt will help to keep you motivated.
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” Oprah Winfrey
Blog written by Winning Pitch, who are a lead delivery partner for the Excelerator Consortium that manages the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme.
Details of the Programme can be found on the Accelerated Growth Programme website.