How will you celebrate?
March 7th, 2018 by Morna
Do you regularly celebrate your accomplishments? I am not surprised if you don’t. Many entrepreneurs are so focused on what is next that they do not take the time to appreciate what they have accomplished. That is why most of my clients and students take time weekly to look at what they accomplished and celebrate that. It is part of their weekly Success and Strategies Summit.
The process
What exactly is the Success and Strategies Summit and how do you have one? It’s a process where you look back at your week, plan the next week, and celebrate your accomplishments.
You only need to set aside 20 or so minutes once a week. It doesn’t really matter whether you do it at the end of the week or the beginning. What matters is that you set aside the time to do this. Put it in your calendar and treat it like the important appointment that it is.
Review the past
Your first step is to go back and review the week. Ask yourself some questions.
What worked well, what didn’t, what did you learn? And what you learned may be a specific skill or knowledge or it may be something that you learned about yourself.
What were your challenges? What fell through the cracks?
What adjustments do you need to make for next week?
Plan the week
With the answers to the questions, look at what you need to accomplish in the next week to move forward on your goals. At the same time, be sure your goals are still in alignment.
Pick your top three priorities for week. Yes, only three – you don’t want to end in overwhelm. These are things that will move your business forward. These are things that you’ll feel great about accomplishing.
Next, actually schedule time for this in your calendar. Be sure to include time for any other non-negotiables, like self-care.
This practice will set you up for success since you are starting the week with intention. You are not facing a calendar with lots of open spaces. You know what you need to accomplish. And, even if you don’t accomplish everything, you’re better off than you were without this tool.
Celebrate your successes
As you look backed at worked worked last week, make note of all the successes you had. These could be big or small. Maybe you sent your newsletter out. Maybe you got a nice compliment from someone who bought your jewelry. Maybe someone sent you a photo of your art hanging in her home. If you take the time to look at all you accomplished – big or small – you will be amazed at how much you did.
That brings us to celebrating. I love to celebrate all that I am accomplishing. Acknowledging your accomplishments is a big step in building your confidence. That in turn leads to more successes.
The celebrations do not need to be big. They just need to be for you, something that recognizes what you did. For you it might be downloading a new song from the Internet. It might be a nice glass of wine with a new novel. It might be a dinner out. It might be a bike ride through the park with your partner.
One of the things I like to do is keep a rewards jar. As I think of wonderful ways to celebrate, I put the idea on a piece of paper and put it in a jar. When I’m ready to celebrate, I pull out a paper and surprise myself with something special.
It’s your turn!
Do you have a practice to reflect on your past week and plan the next? Do you have a plan for celebrating your accomplishments?
Tags: accomplishments, celebrate, rewards jar, successes