Celebrate

Birthdays, anniversaries, passing exams, birth of a child, new job these are some of the events in our life we celebrate. And quite rightly so.

But why are we leaving celebrations to only the large occasions in our life? Surely every success deserves a wee hoopla. Looking at your work life. You perhaps have several large projects to do, a few medium ones and a never ending list of smaller tasks to complete.

The satisfaction you get from completing the big tasks is huge. Your team or manager will possibly complement you on a job well done. You may have found it to be a hard slog at times, but you got there in the end. If it is a project visible to many, the celebrations may be wide and on a rare occasion you may get a bonus or a pay increase as a result.

We do our job and generally aren’t looking for a celebration upon completion. In fact we likely never think about it. We score it off our list and move onto the next with barely a glance back.

We all have those regular tasks we do with our eyes closed, but what about the random or tricky ones that come up from time to time. Upon first glance they look easy but once you get stuck in, it’s a rabbit warren.

No-one but you truly appreciates the amount of work that you have put in to get it over the line. We feel great satisfaction knowing the head pickler of a task is now complete and the likelihood of coming across anything similar will be slim. But if it does, you are now armed with information to help deal with it.

When we accomplish something, we don’t often have the time to stop and appreciate the effort that went into it. Plus how often have you ever taken a moment to reflect on a task or project?

During a conversation I had this week, we spoke about the need and importance to celebrate the end of a task, no matter how small the accomplishment was. But we weren’t talking balloons and prosecco, just an acknowledgement a tip of the hat if you please.

Then it dawned on me, once I complete a task and score it off my list. I move on, I never have the luxury of time to stop and reflect. It becomes about the next item on my list. But what if I actually wrote down my accomplishment just for me in a notebook?

I wasn’t thinking about putting the daily or weekly completed tasks in there. Instead, the head scratcher tasks that require a lot of time and energy to complete. I had just the task to be the first entry into my celebrations notebook, completed that day.

The task had been in my inbox since the end of January, (yes I know) but as it wasn’t urgent, I ignored it until the middle of May when I realised it has to be completed by mid June. After researching, reading, talking to a few people and sending an email for confirmation. I received a response agreeing with my proposal. This burdensome task was now complete and I could satisfactorily score it off my list.

A celebration notebook is a space for you to write down something you feel is worth a wee celebration. It may seem like nothing to another person but you know and understand the effort and work that went into it and the satisfaction felt when completed. You might decide to complete it daily, weekly or monthly. Do as you wish.

You can then look back through it and notice all you have achieved. If anything it gives you a list of your accomplishments, which can come in handy at work if you need to report on what you have completed that month.

In your notebook you could write down why you feel the accomplishment deserves to be celebrated, how you felt when you started it and completed it or just write the task down itself. Mark it up and be proud of yourself. Celebrate.

Use it in your home life too. Completed a garden project, write it down. Finally got that dripping tap fixed, write it down and celebrate.

When we finish something and feel good about it, we should take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate. So start your celebration notebook today.

Thank you for reading, have a lovely week and ensure you celebrate your achievements.

Look after you! Love Emma xx