Why don’t we celebrate more?

If you’re a parent, you probably remember celebrating all of the small and huge milestones your kids hit – they ate their first solid food; they rolled over; they graduated from kindergarten, middle school, high school, and college; they got first place at the science far; they mastered their first piano recital, and the list could go on.

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We look for reasons to celebrate.?

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We focus on building self-esteem in our kids because we know they will live in a world of hard knocks that may not celebrate all of their wins.

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We celebrate because it’s fun.

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We celebrate because it makes everyone smile.

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We celebrate so that we can keep doing the hard work.

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As adults, we seem to stop celebrating as much, particularly regarding work.?There seems to be a common mindset that work is something to be serious about.?I get it; the work people do is important, and we need to take it seriously.

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Just because we’re talking about work, that serious thing, doesn’t mean we don’t get to celebrate it.

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We celebrate promotions and new jobs but tend to gloss over the smaller wins – acing a presentation, signing a new client, breaking through writer’s block, etc.

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This was today’s topic in a group coaching program where I participate – how do we celebrate our wins; why are we not celebrating our wins; why are we not making a big deal about them as we would do for our kids?

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For me, I know it’s because I tend to write them off just as things that happen. I may take a moment of self-congratulations and then move on because the destination goals are a long way off…lots more work to do.?

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What if we decided that part of making our work experience fun and engaging was celebrating our wins more often and stopping ourselves from minimizing them?

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What if we created our own version of celebrating – a happy dance, a reward, a gold star – that gave us a visual recognition of our progress?

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What if we started celebrating all the steps in the journey vs. waiting for the destination?

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I think we would be happier.?I think it would make doing the hard work easier because some celebrations are embedded.

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I’m going to give it a try.?If you see or hear me minimizing a win, remind me I’m supposed to be celebrating.

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???? ♀? I am Melissa Carson.

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People strategist for women-led businesses | Advisor and coach for HR leaders who want to be more strategic |Coach for leaders at a career inflection point |Leading as an Art Facilitator | Podcast Guest

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