For everything there is a season and it’s always a good time to progress and seek your next challenge; however, sometimes you have to take a moment to reflect and savor your success. Savoring your success doesn’t mean you stop working or cease goal setting. Savoring your success means you:
Enjoy the fruits of your labor
Examine what you did right
Celebrate
If pausing to enjoy your previous and current success seems minor and optional know that not savoring your success will without doubt cause:
A burn out
Low Morale
Decreased Creativity
Interruption into work-life balance
Let’s get into it!
Enjoy the fruits of your labor
By nature we as humans respond well to rewards and benefits. We learn it as toddlers and throughout childhood and yes it carries on into adulthood. When we see that our hard work ethic and perseverance is rewarded with our dream house, car,
vacation, providing plenty for our families, and increasing our quality of life we are eager to keep pushing and do it again! Of course you want to be financially savvy and live within your means. Responsibility is key. How you enjoy and reward yourself is up to you just make sure it gets done.
Examine what you did right
Just like we learn from our mistakes we learn so much more in our success. A real gritty overachiever may reach milestones and quickly move on to the next objective but a strategic leader pauses to examine recently reached goals to develop a system to duplicate that success again and again. If you really want to examine what you did right, slow down and bask in it! Don’t rush to move on! Examine and take note of your winning steps and not just for a pat on the back but so you can pass it on and create more winning moments.
Celebrate
When you work hard play hard. Take one friend, colleague or 12, take your significant other, take anyone who believes in you and has supported you and celebrate your achievement. It can be quick and low key or tell the word! Take time to breath, relax, and enjoy your success so that you can feel refreshed and motivated to keep going!
Are you not convinced? I don’t judge you. Neither was I. I have always been a big believer in staying humble and somehow associated savoring success with being boastful but trust me there is no correlation. I don’t like feeling drained so for me taking little pauses to refresh, reenergize, and celebrate with my team isimperative. Not reflecting on my collective success caused:
A burn out: Imagine running a 5 mile marathon and crossing the finish line, taking a sip of water and jumping into a 10 mile marathon! Your body can only do what it is trained and prepared for. We are not robots and moving from success to success without breaks and reflection isn’t healthy. You may successfully do so several times but when you least expect and it and when someone or a group of people needs you the most your built in energizer bunny is going to collapse. When you are burned out you can’t put your best foot forward and you absolutely can’t lead.
Low Morale: If you lead a team, not celebrating their accomplishments before assigning a new set of tasks can reduce morale. My son experiences this when he works very hard on a project or school assignment and doesn’t get any feedback right away. It can be frustrating to do what is asked of you and hit your mark and not be acknowledged. As a leader, the morale levels of your team is a reflection of your leadership. Don’t leave them hanging. Acknowledging well doing is just as important as acknowledging setbacks and mistakes.
Decreased Creativity: It’s hard to be creative when you are not energized. The positivity you will surround yourself with while enjoying your success is creative fuel. That breather, that break, and deep reflection will bring out more ideas and help you be the best visionary. If you keep going 100 miles per hour you will just start going through the motions and be a task completer versus an innovator.
Interruption into work-life balance: Balancing life and work is a century old challenge that women and men face. Your dedication to your work in the form of the refusal to pause to celebrate your success with those who benefit from your hard labor will throw your work-life balance out of wack. At work you give your 110% and don’t let family and personal matters interfere with your work and your incredible work ethic and focus has paid off! To keep the balance you and your family deserve to savor, profit from, and fully enjoy your success. If balance is not achieved you risk your productiveness and performance at work AND at home. Be dedicated to them both! Savoring your success has physical and psychological benefits. Your overall life satisfaction and social functioning improves when you savor your success. You are worthy and deserving of a break and celebration. Yes you will keep going, you are not done yet and your best days are ahead of you and as certain I am in your potential I am certain your former and current days are full of accomplishments. Don’t count them out, don’t take it likely. Savor your success, you earned it, it is yours and you are worth it!
If this inspires you and you want more thoughtful commentary and discussions on leadership, success, professionalism, and more subscribe to my YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/DialogueWithDallasdxez
_edited.png)