Celebrate wins, even if they are small

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Just about everyone I know has fallen prey to the terrible 21st century disease of ‘busyness’. There are many side effects of this disease, but one of the lesser considered ones is that we seem to have stopped celebrating wins – big or small.

Between the never-ending to-do lists at work and million ideas to make your life ‘better’ on social media, it can feel like nothing you do is enough. Not good enough, not profitable enough, not exciting enough. The constant comparison with, well, everyone just makes us feel miserable.

I’m not going to suggest that you turn off social media and do less, because it’s highly likely neither of those are a viable option. Instead, I’m going to suggest something different – celebrating the small wins. And the big ones.

For instance, when you sign up a new client, what do you do to celebrate? It doesn’t have to be big – a box of donuts for the office, coffees all round and 20 minutes away from the computers is an easy gesture. Taking the time to stop and smell the roses helps remind us all that we are working hard, and that everyone is doing their best – even if you feel like their best, or your best, isn’t good enough.

Here’s a list of things you could celebrate:

  • Finally getting the new website live after 2 years of trying

  • Deciding to stop or start blogging

  • A new staff member

  • A significant birthday

  • Firing a terribly behaved client

  • Implementing a new review process

  • Updating your FSG

I’m sure there are loads more. By looking for the small things that have gone well, you are demonstrating to your team that you care about them, and notice the effort that they put in. And best of all, you are reminding yourself to stop and reflect every once in a while.

To be honest, if you can’t find something small at least once a month, then either your expectations for baseline performance are way too high, or things really are going terribly. Either way, at that point you really should stop and think about what’s going on and what you, as the business owner, are going to do about it.

Now, rather than thinking ‘yes, good idea, I should do that sometime’, why not think of something to celebrate and book in that box of donuts? Your staff will thank you for it, even if your waistline doesn’t.

This article first appeared in Professional Planner - 12 July 2019