On achievements – what’s your very first memory of accomplishing something?

The first stamp of a Gold Star on the back of your hands? A good school scorecard? Our hearts beaming with excitement to show the achievement to our parents, and the ecstatic feelings of pride when we hear the words of affirmation.

Our achievements have always been a major booster of confidence. However, as we grow older, our world becomes frightfully bigger. The expectations of people around us also loom larger as they are accompanied by self-doubt that we face every so often. Sometimes it’s hard to see ourselves in the light of appreciation because the target appears set ever higher. Until it seems unreachable.

But why do achievements have to draw on other people’s applause? We forget that celebrating even the smallest accomplishments can make our day.

The Importance of Celebrating Achievements

It Changes Your Physiology And Strengthens Your Psychology

The physiological effects of celebrating your successes – whether small or big – offer interesting insights. When we celebrate, our brain releases one of the four major happy hormones called endorphins. It helps to improve our overall sense of well-being and to develop resilience as new challenges, or opportunities, arise.

Conversely, if we fail to celebrate our accomplishments, we are teaching our brains to believe that what we do is not important nor exciting. This may lead to feeling deadpan, mundane, and pedestrian. The mood that emanates from this correlates with a complacent working attitude and lackluster results.

We should never underestimate how deeply our state of mind affects our personal and professional lives.

It Positions You as a Winner and Attracts More Success

Success breeds success and it’s only natural to build on existing momentum, especially during celebratory events. For example, when we work to grow our business, celebratory events not only highlight the positive aspects of what we’re accomplishing but also position our venture as a desirable pole of attraction for others.

People will be looking for opportunities to participate in what we have successfully built as we celebrate our victories.. This is how partnerships arise. In other words, if we allow others in, there’s a good chance they’ll come up with ways to improve on what we’ve already accomplished.

It Reinforces Your Mindset For More Success

A to-do list certainly does wonders to our daily productivity. However, as time goes by, the mundane nature of such a routine might also lessen our enthusiasm. We finish two to three tasks and no longer give them much of a thought.

As a result, we rob ourselves of that feeling of joy, which will eventually lead to burnout. Don’t forget to look back at what has been already ticked. That alone deserves patting yourself on the back, however small the progress may have been.

It Inspires Others and Strengthens Your Network

When you share your joys with others, it can motivate them to instill the same enthusiasm. They would want to start experiencing the same level of motivation and joy that you do. You are encouraging others to celebrate their own triumphs by fostering this behavior. There is a new energy that is born from joint celebrations.

When you instill hope and optimism in your communities, it strengthens your network. Your celebrations are a reflection of overcoming challenges. By sharing them, you can help your circle come up with new ideas and changes.

Someone else may be in the same circumstances as you are, and your example may motivate them to achieve their own objectives. Alternatively, someone else in your network might have a better idea, thus providing you with a fresh approach to execute it in your practice. Collaborate, achievements are best to celebrate as a team!

It Boosts Your Confidence

Recognizing and acknowledging your strengths helps you gain self-confidence. You’ll probably keep doing what you’re good at. You’ll be appreciating the virtues and skills that have shaped who you are. When you realize that your results are a testament to your abilities, effort, and dedication, they open up many possibilities and opportunities.

Five Ways to Appreciate Yourself More

Appreciating yourself isn’t a fixed process. Here are five ways to help you spark some ideas!

Reward Your Efforts– Hold your head up high whenever you achieve something you deem worth celebrating. How? By rewarding yourself, taking some time off from work, having some memorable experience, or simply, relaxing.
Practice self-compassion– Embracing and coming to terms with your flaws would greatly contribute to appreciating yourself more, rather than censuring them. In the face of failures, self-compassion will cushion your falls and provide you with comfort and reassurance.
Let yourself receive appreciation from others– Learn to accept compliments and appreciation. Doing so not only boosts your confidence but also grants you a brighter outlook on your goal.
Be selective towards the criticism you receive– Learn to distinguish between criticisms that are useful because they could contribute to your growth and those that are not. Ignore the criticism from people who are of minor significance (i.e complete strangers). Reflect on where such criticisms are coming from, and why they are made.
Give yourself more credit– As simple as it may sound, giving yourself more credit is one of the steps toward appreciating yourself. This is often harder than we realize. It is one of the most important indications of self-appreciation. Giving ourselves genuine credit despite our failures may serve as a strong foundation for our path of self-appreciation.

Tips For Setting Goals

There are times when we feel lost, and there are also times when we feel overwhelmed by the number of goals that we have to meet. Don’t worry, we’re here to give you a breather! Here are some tips for setting up your goals.

Write down your goals

The first step is always the hardest, and it requires you to think about your life’s purpose. What is it that you really want to truly live your life? The moment that lightbulb goes up, that’s when everything lines up. Secondly, list down everything that you want to do or become in order to attain your goals. Third, learn to distinguish short-term goals from long-term ones.

Most of the time, the feeling of being overwhelmed or lost is due to our fixation on our long-term goals. If we completely overlook the little steps we have to take, we’d inevitably find ourselves demotivated. Short-term goals are the building blocks of our longer-term goals, so start giving them more attention and establish how to reach your achievements.

Create your action plan

Now it’s time to give importance to how we can become who we want to be, and how we can achieve what we want to achieve.

Have a to-do list to see all the big and little steps you have to take in order to get closer to your goals, whether short or long term. Gather information about the goal. It is always important to be informed and educated regarding your goal in order to properly plan around it. “Knowledge is power”, so being knowledgeable about your goal will undoubtedly increase the efficiency of your actions.

Create a budget and a list of resources you may need. Make a step-by-step plan. It involves generating a detailed explanation regarding the execution of our plans. A to-do list itemizes the “little steps” mentioned above.

Lastly, set the time frame. Setting a time frame will also promote efficiency in attaining your goal. Disciplining yourself by setting specific deadlines is an important step to maintaining your focus and pace on your path to success.

Believe in your goals

You can practice imagining and experiencing your objectives as if they already existed. It can be done in a variety of ways. You can begin with guided meditations, sketching out the details, creating a vision board, or speaking with your life coach about it.

You’ll write about your goals as though they’re currently occurring, in the present tense, describing the specifics and involving all of your senses. When things get tough, this will help you stay on track. It may also provide you with a new perspective on achieving your objectives. Believing is an important factor in meeting your goals.

The act of believing is the most powerful drive. Without something pushing us from behind, we’ll always find a reason to stop.

Take action

Now that the basics of planning have been covered, it is time for action. Concepts are concepts, as are words. What we need is something concrete – something real. Do we step up, or do we step aside?

As mentioned before, discipline is a core virtue in attaining our goals and achievements. Taking on a goal can be difficult, especially if it requires that you change your routine. You must be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and have the discipline to stick to the master plan you have devised.

You won’t be able to achieve all of your objectives at once. Take it one step at a time until you’ve mastered it. You can put on another regimen once you’ve mastered the first one and made it a habit. This will give you the confidence to set higher goals for yourself. Take breaks. Allow yourself to take a break anytime you don’t feel like you have the energy to continue. Pushing through when you’re tired will prevent you from listening to your instincts. It has the potential to have serious bodily and mental consequences.

Monitor the process

You will have to track and observe your progress and your pace, to see if any adjustments are needed in order to get back on track. Monitoring is critical to determine whether you are effectively carrying out the strategy to meet your personal objectives.

Additional tips for Celebrating Achievements:

Find a way to keep yourself motivated. The ideal way to achieve this is by surrounding yourself with a positive environment and inspiring people.

Focus on your path. Avoid comparing your progress to others. Everyone is unique in terms of talent and skills, so it would be unfair if you keep comparing yourself to someone evidently more talented or privileged.

Keep learning. Situations will arise wherein staying on the old path grants us little to no benefit, so we must always be willing to learn new ways and to be efficient in how we do things.

And lastly,

celebrate your wins, may they be big or small.

Ask yourself, out of all the achievements you’ve had, how proud are you to have attained them? You have created something extraordinary that would not have been existed without you. Even if someone has done it before, it’s not done by you. Your unique DNA adds a special fingerprint to everything you create in this life.

Since we all are made of stardust, go ahead and celebrate your Star Power. Shine a little brighter, and beam as the stars do!

Need a help to visualize your achievements? Download our Guided Audio MP3 to help you celebrate!