If you want to stay motivated to achieve your goals it’s essential to always celebrate achievements. By recognising your achievements and celebrating success you feel more confident.
When you celebrate achievements you can see the progress you’re making, which boosts focus and motivation. Succeeding, and achieving goals, simply feels good.
Celebrating success is important to push you towards even greater achievements. The simple habit of acknowledging achievements reinforces that achievement in your mind.
December is often a time for setting goals for the year ahead. To set better goals for the future it’s important to celebrate your achievements and goals from the past year.
Celebrating what you’ve achieved in the past makes you feel more confident about what you can achieve in the future. When you feel confident about your achievements you feel more capable about achieving bigger goals.
Read more: Goal setting: how to set and achieve your goals
Celebrate achievements to set better goals
I first started contemplating the powerful role celebrating achievements and experiences have when setting new goals when I took clients through my goal setting process.
I noticed that when clients started setting goals, without acknowledging past achievements, they had no real frame of reference to work from. They set goals without feeling confident about achieving those goals.
But, when they took the time to celebrate achievements it gave them a clear starting point to make measurable progress in the future. They felt more confident and excited about setting and achieving bigger and better goals for the future.
Read more: The importance of setting measurable goals
Why should we celebrate achievements?
Recognising and celebrating achievements is a powerful motivator and confidence builder because it reinforces the power of your achievement, and allows you to appreciate the achievement even more.
This recognition of achievements boosts our self-confidence and self-esteem and motivates us to take the next step in setting better goals and developing better habits.
We all want to feel like we’re achieving. We want more positive experiences to look back on. When we feel confident and capable about our achievements we feel more confident about the future.
December is an opportunity to take your goal setting up a notch by taking the time to celebrate your biggest achievements. By taking the time to celebrate achievements we create positive memories into our future.
When you know what achievements and experiences you really care about you can be more strategic about setting your goals for the future.
6 step process to always celebrate achievements
Here is a simple 6 step process to ensure you always celebrate achievements.
1. Think about and celebrate achievements
Start by thinking about everything you’ve achieved over a specific period of time. Focus on all of the results you’ve achieved.
If you’re setting goals right now, or are thinking about your future goals, take some time to think about everything you’ve achieved over the last 12 months. Then find effective ways to celebrate achievements.
Celebration breeds more success and adds to your feelings of satisfaction and confidence.
2. Write down your achievements
Once you’ve taken the time to think about all of your winning achievements write them all down. Write down every single result you achieved or goal you achieved. Then take a step back to consider all of your achievements.
Write down your top ten achievements or goals you achieved over the last twelve months.
3. Write down why the achievement was important
Now that you have your top ten achievements, it’s important to understand why that achievement or result was important. It might have been a personal achievement, or a work achievement.
You may have achieved a specific result for someone else. This could be a client, a customer, a colleague or a friend.
Write down exactly why the specific achievement was important to you so you can emotionally connect with the result.
4. Identify the difference the achievement made in your life
Now that you’ve acknowledge why the achievement was important, take the time to consider what difference that achievement made in your life.
It might have helped you grow your business or advance your career. The achievement could have made a difference in the life of a colleague, client or friend.
Identify what difference those achievements have made in your work and personal life. You’ll feel more confident and grateful.
5. Acknowledge who helped you
To expand the value of your achievements it’s important to acknowledge and recognise the people who helped you achieve those important results.
Acknowledging the people who made a difference or supported you amplifies their importance in your life. It also expands the gratitude you have towards them.
6. Take time to celebrate achievements
Finally, really take the time to celebrate your achievements. Decide how you want to celebrate your achievements. When you celebrate achievements the value of the achievement grows.
We often achieve things or succeed at things without acknowledging them. Without taking the time to recognise their importance. Always celebrate achievements as it makes it easier to make progress on new achievements. Express gratitude to everyone who has helped you achieve your success.
Summing up
Celebrating achievements reinforces confidence and helps with goal setting. Taking the time to celebrate your achievements also helps you feel more capable about achieving bigger goals in the future.
Celebrating achievements ensures your goal setting is not just another thing you need to do or add to your to-do list. When you set goals from a position of strength and confidence you’ll always set goals that feel exciting and you want to achieve.
About the Author
Mark Pettit is a small business coach based in Colchester, Essex, UK. He is Founder of business coaching company Lucemi Consulting. He helps business owners simplify their time, energy and focus so they can multiply their freedom, impact and results.
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