Success is celebration

It’s with my heartfelt thanks to each of you readers that we come to the final piece of this "Success Is" blog series. The past two months have been eye-opening and challenging (since I’m not very used to diligently publishing blog posts once a week like clockwork), but I’ve learned a lot about myself and the writing process. You could say that I’ve taken some major steps to success as I worked towards my writing goal. :)

With our final post of the series, it’s only fitting that we talk about what happens after we hit those milestones or achieve our goals. I’m sure most of you are still working your way towards the finish line (and it’s just been nearly two months since the series started), but you can’t forget to reward yourself along the way.

Remember, no matter how small the steps are, you’re making progress. When you’ve hit those milestones—the small goals that you hit before achieving the bigger goal—it’s proper to give yourself the occasional “pat on the back” to maintain a level of morale that will inspire you to keep going!

In this day and age, social media can have a crippling effect on people’s self-esteem. Some think they’re just getting by, with no purpose, and still trying to figure out what life is all about. But that’s exactly why celebrating what we are, what we’ve become, is that much more important to do.

By celebrating our achievements, no matter how small, we acknowledge our progress, which serves as an effective motivator—much better than treating our efforts as “business as usual”. I’m not saying that we should be handing out participation trophies to every kid in the soccer league, but rather, that when there is a real accomplishment made, the effort should be acknowledged. It could be as simple as treating yourself to an extra scoop of ice cream for memorizing and executing that chord progression you’ve been working on the past week.

Celebrating isn’t just about throwing parties and having that extra scoop of ice cream, though. With celebration, there should also be reflection. Just because you worked on something and achieved that sub-goal or milestone, doesn’t mean you can’t improve on how you worked towards it. Being a self-critic is important if you’re looking to make more efficient use of your time or incorporating more effective strategies in your journey to meet your goal.

When we make the time to celebrate even the small victories, we focus on the work we did rather than the work we didn’t or could have. There’s no point in crying over spilled milk, as the saying goes. And it’s also true that there’s no point in thinking about the what-ifs if our goals are ahead of us. Looking backwards for too long will only slow us down.

And there you have it! The end of the blog series on Success.

Remember that you’re not just dedicating to setting and achieving goals; you’re also dedicating to live your life to the fullest, to have no regrets in the things that you’ve done and will do. It’s a kind of lifestyle that involves you finding your own definition of success—not someone else’s—and being proud when you achieve it.

Main image by arianka ibarra.