Do You Celebrate Your Accomplishments?

Do you celebrate your accomplishments? The year 2011 is about to wrap itself up and bring us into 2012.  As the New Year approaches, everyone is thinking about setting their New Year resolutions and goals, however how many people are acknowledging what went well in 2011? Furthermore, how many people are going to celebrate their accomplishments from the year?

 

The truth is, celebrating one’s accomplishments or achievements is something that should be done regularly, not just at the end of a year.

 

Some people don’t like the word and connotation of the word “celebrate”. They’ll tell me that they don’t need to celebrate their goals and milestones they’ve reached. It feels to them as if their accomplishments should be a ‘given’, meaning that everyone is achieving or doing what they are doing.

 

The Meaning of Celebrations

Celebration means many different things including:

• Recognition
• Acknowledgement
• Rewards
• Receiving others’ congratulations
• Integration
• Symbolism
• Pausing to reflect
• Giving yourself a pat on the back
• Meaning making

 

Benefits of Celebrating, Acknowledging and Rewarding Your Accomplishments

Celebrating what we have achieved is a great way to integrate our accomplishment into our psyche, life, and/or career to derive and construct new meanings on how our life could now be different as a result of this milestone that we have achieved. What have you learned from this accomplishment about yourself and your life? What will be different now?

 

As an example, I once had a client who had recently completed her Master’s degree. I was ecstatic for her, and even more so because I can relate to her accomplishment since I too have completed a Master’s degree. I asked her if she planned to celebrate this accomplishment in any way. She proceeded to tell me that she didn’t need to reward herself, because getting a Master’s degree was so common these days.

 

I was actually more interested in how the achievement of her master’s degree could change her career. I asked her what she wanted to be different in her life as a result of having earned her Master’s degree. I wanted to know also how others’ perceptions of her and her abilities might be different. Also, would her own expectations for her career now change? What would now be different in her life? What new meaning would she create in her life as a result of this achievement? This really got her thinking. She had never really thought that much about it.

 

Celebrating your accomplishments, or acknowledging them, or rewarding yourself for what you’ve achieved helps you to pause, reflect, and take time to relish what you’ve accomplished, and how your life might be different as a result. What does your achievement say about you? What is it symbolic of in your life and representing for you?

 

Others find it very important to reward themselves for their accomplishments. After all, if it was so important to achieve, why wouldn’t we acknowledge and reward the fact that we were able to follow through with our goal? By rewarding yourself, you will learn to associate joy, fun and positivity with your accomplishments, and this will make it that much more enjoyable in the long run to achieve your big goals.

 

On the other hand, when you keep racing onto your next accomplishment you risk burnout, and your creativity and energy will lag behind. You will notice yourself enjoying the process of working towards your goals, less and less. There is a well known quote by Arthur Ashe, “Success is a journey, not a destination”. The message is that we need to enjoy our lives as we work toward the achievement of our goals and success. Enjoying ourselves during the process and at the conclusion of our achievements is important.

 

Ask yourself, what is your own unique way of celebrating, acknowledging and/or rewarding your own accomplishments? For some it might be to go out and party, and for others it might be go on a trip. Yet for others it might be giving themselves an entire evening to read a fiction book.  It’s different for everyone, and it also depends for some on the size or significance of their accomplishments.

 

Symbolic Ways to Celebrate Our Goals

• Framing a degree, diploma or certificate and posting it somewhere in sight
• Taking pictures of our celebrations
• Making an announcement such as when people announce an engagement for example
• Buying a memorable gift that reflects an achievement, e.g., a clock or bracelet engraved with a message
• Giving yourself a gift as a reward, e.g., that new pair of designer shoes that you’ve have your eyes on for awhile now

 

Experiential Ways to Celebrate

• Going on a trip and travelling somewhere
• Getting a massage, manicure or new hairstyle
• Have a party
• Going out for a nice dinner with friends and family
• Taking a day off from all your chores and busy work so that you can do ‘nothing’

 

These of course are just a few ways that you can celebrate or acknowledge the accomplishment of your goals. So, do you celebrate your accomplishments? What do you do for yourself when you have completed a major milestone or goal? How do you acknowledge it? I’d love to hear from you!