Keeping faithful and focused on your goals for growing your business is hard work. With the demands of owning and running a business day-to-day, eating right, getting the kids to soccer practice plus all the distractions of life; you get discouraged and you are tempted to put your goals on the back burner.
Setting smaller goals and milestones and celebrating their attainment can help turn your humungous goals into little victories that help you gain the momentum and develop a thirst for hitting the next goal. Let me explain how I learned this concept.
Lessons in Goals from the Cub Scouts
When my oldest son Jacob was young, he wanted to join the Cub Scouts. I was thrilled! I had been a cubby too when I was a boy but never got very far. All of those activities you had to do seem so overwhelming; I never got past Wolf Cub. It’s no wonder kids give up like I did. With Jacob, it was going to be different!
I got involved as a Den Leader for Jacob’s den and helped him through each step. The Cub Scouts have a wonderful program. Each meeting and activity is clearly laid out in a structure that makes it easy for leaders help move the scout along the path to achievement. My favorite part of the program is the concept of Progress Towards Ranks. The scouts recognize that boys need frequent recognition to keep them going, so they award them soon after each accomplishment.
Each month, during our Pack Meetings, we would recognize the small achievements made during the month. The attainment of each Rank was broken down into small, attainable chunks. We would award the scout with a small, colored bead that he could affix to his Cub Scout Totem, which he wore on his shirt as a badge of honor! Leaders and parents make a big deal out it and even do an award ceremony at each Pack meeting to recognize the boys.
I Never Got Past Wolf Cub But…
Jacob got through the entire Cub Scout program and attained the Arrow of Light! This award is the highest award a Cub Scout can achieve and is the only award one can carry on to the Boy Scouts. The Arrow of Light is the Cub Scout equivalent to the Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts! I am very proud of Jacob! So what was the difference between my success as a Cub Scout and Jacob’s?
Two Game-Changing Reasons Why I Failed and Jacob Did Not
- Jacob had an accountability partner who was interested in his success
- Jacob celebrated small successes along the way, at critical points along his five-year journey to the Arrow of Light achievement!
Everyone should have an accountability partner or a least an external system that helps him or her stay on track. I’ll save the reasons why it’s smart to have a coach for another day, today let’s focus on…
Seven Reasons to Celebrate Small Successes
- Makes us continually aware of our goals. When you celebrate small successes, you bring to mind the ultimate goal you are trying to achieve.
- Reminds us why we set goals and keeps us focused on their attainment.
- We appreciate what we have accomplished. This exercise in gratitude helps us to focus on what is important.
- Builds momentum and keeps us moving forward. The more small goals we accomplish, the closer we are to our ultimate goal!
- Celebration and ceremony is a great way to unify your team. Each team member rallies around the others as goals are completed. Sometimes healthy competition ensues that strengthens the team.
- Cures burnout and boredom. Let’s face it. All work and no play makes Paulie a dull boy! Celebration is fun! Putting a little fun into our work day makes it interesting and is a welcome interruption from the grind of hard work.
- It feels good. Achieving goals releases endorphins in your brain, which is a chemical reaction that promotes well-being. The well-being becomes addictive with repetition. It naturally makes you want o achieve and set more goals.
Whenever one of my coaching clients reaches a small goal I ask them; “How are you celebrating your success?” Some are surprised and don’t have an answer ready. I encourage them to reward themselves in small but significant ways to reinforce all their hard work. One of my clients recently had his biggest sale ever! Since his job caused him to be away from his growing family, I urged him to reward his family with a nice meal or outing to thank them for their support. His family was indeed grateful for his sacrifice.
How do you celebrate your small successes?
I’d love to hear your favorite way to celebrate you success, enter a comment below and let me know!
