The blog

Acknowl­edg­ing and cel­e­brat­ing some­thing we have accom­plished after hav­ing worked hard for a num­ber of con­sec­u­tive days increas­es our moti­va­tion. It sim­ply makes us feel good. The val­ue of cel­e­brat­ing these small vic­to­ries and accom­plish­ments that are part of our every­day lives has been shown in research done by Tere­sa Ama­bile, to men­tion one researcher inter­est­ed in the top­ic, whom I have referred to once in a while.

I there­fore encour­age you to find a way to reward your­self through­out your work — a way that will moti­vate you and make it eas­i­er to estab­lish new habits for improv­ing your structure. 

Don’t just move on and on
But it can be hard to know what we ought to reward our­selves with. I per­son­al­ly tend to take the recent accom­plish­ment for grant­ed and just move on to the next chal­lenge. On one hand, the accom­plish­ing of some­thing gives a sense of reward in itself, but if we were to cel­e­brate and empha­size our progress, how would we go about doing so? Since ​”pat­ting your­self on the back” is just a metaphor, how do we mark the occasion?

What some peo­ple do
I recent­ly asked a group of peo­ple who I believe are good at cel­e­brat­ing the small vic­to­ries in their every­day lives how they go about cel­e­brat­ing, and here is a selec­tion of their replies:

• ”I buy myself sur­prise gifts”
• ”I say Thank You when I wake up and before I fall asleep”
• ”I order a dou­ble espres­so from a nice café”
• ”I have a nice dinner”
• ”I treat myself to the spa”
• ”I col­lect per­fect moments in Google Docs”
• ”I always keep a bot­tle of bub­bly in the fridge”
• ”I treat a friend to a cof­fee and we cel­e­brate togeth­er, since shared joy is twice the joy”
• ”I have pre­pared a thanky­ou-email that I send to myself every day and to which I add what­ev­er I am thank­ful for towards myself that day, mean­ing that every day I send myself today’s ver­sion of this grow­ing lists of things I am grate­ful for”
• ”I enjoy a high-qual­i­ty cigar”
• ”I just hold the thought of what I just accom­plished in my mind for a minute or two and enjoy the great feel­ing I get”
• ”I take a break, stare up into the ceil­ing for a few min­utes and just rest”
• ”I tell a col­league who I know would be hap­py for me about my suc­cess and enjoy the encour­age­ment I am given”

How do these sug­ges­tions sound? Would any of the above be some­thing for you as well?

Do this
If you too could use some cel­e­bra­tion and acknowl­edg­ment in your life, then do this:

1. Reflect on the fol­low­ing: Are you cur­rent­ly involved in a chal­lenge that you could cel­e­brate hav­ing fin­ished once it is done? Let it be some­thing you could accom­plish in the next few weeks to come, so that you do not have to wait for­ev­er for the cel­e­bra­tion. It does how­ev­er need to be some­thing slight­ly chal­leng­ing so that you have to exert your­self some­how, and so that it real­ly feels like a vic­to­ry once it is done.


2. Now choose how you will cel­e­brate once you have crossed the fin­ish line. It could be one of the ways men­tioned above, or some­thing com­plete­ly different.


3. If you need to do or buy some­thing in order to cel­e­brate when that time comes, add doing so to your to-do-list, unless you do it right away.

More moti­va­tion, and lighter at heart
If you cel­e­brate the small vic­to­ries and accom­plish­ments in your every­day life often, you will get to enjoy the sweet sen­sa­tion of progress in a more tan­gi­ble way. If we are to believe what Ama­bile and her fel­low researchers have con­clud­ed, your moti­va­tion will increase and it will become eas­i­er to get things done since you now face new chal­lenges with greater zest and motivation. 

What is your way?
How do you cel­e­brate hav­ing accom­plished some­thing in your work — be it big or small? Leave a com­ment and share your thoughts.