Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of recognizing and celebrating milestones to maintain an empowered perspective on life's journey.

Abstract

The author discusses the tendency to overlook the significance of celebrating small victories and milestones in the pursuit of larger goals. Through the example of a client who started a new business, the article illustrates how focusing on problems can overshadow the successes achieved. The client, despite making notable progress such as hiring ideal staff, acquiring an investor, and achieving clarity on business expansion, was initially fixated on the challenges faced. The author highlights the transformative impact of pausing to acknowledge and appreciate these achievements, suggesting that a regular practice of reviewing and celebrating successes can lead to a more positive and empowered outlook, ultimately attracting further success.

Opinions

The author believes that it is common for individuals to forget to celebrate their achievements, leading to a focus on problems rather than successes.
Celebrating milestones is seen as a way to shift from a problem-centric view to an appreciation of progress and growth.
The act of stopping to review and celebrate achievements is considered crucial for feeling empowered, lighter, and more relaxed.
The author suggests that regularly scheduling time to reflect on and celebrate successes can change one's energy and perspective, making life and work more delightful and empowering.
It is the author's opinion that even small accomplishments deserve recognition and that this practice will attract more success.
The author advocates for the idea that taking the time to appreciate milestones can transform the present moment into something "great, perfect, delicious, playful, exciting, energizing, amazing, wonderful."

Are you Pausing to Appreciate and Celebrate Your Milestones?

Use this simple tool to shift into an empowered perspective.

Are you smiling about and celebrating your milestones as you make progress on your journey… the journey you call Life? Or, are you pursing your lips and feeling frustrated by the hardships and problems along the way?

Are you looking at, and noticing, all the small successes, progress made, improvements, learning, growth and allowing yourself to feel grateful? Or, do you just see the huge, complicated, unknown things that make you feel stuck, tired, heavy?

I was coaching a client recently who has just started a new small business. She had hit a stumbling block and was feeling frustrated and deflated. She was seeing her journey as a bunch of problems that needed to be solved… she felt like she was just moving from one problem to the next.

Okay, that’s kind of what life and business are about on one hand, aren’t they?

We are putting procedures, practices, learning, and knowledge in place to help prevent problems and make them easier to solve when they pop up. But, she had made some really great progress that she forgot to stop and celebrate.

We do that, don’t we? Forget to stop, review, and celebrate.

Here’s what she had to celebrate.

She had successfully hired 2 perfect staff. (Wow, huh?! Her words, not mine.) She had her first paying client! (Woohoo! Happy dance!) Most of her business is driven from her automated website and it was working just as she wanted it to work.

She had acquired a new investor to help her pay for the development of her complicated website. She had some really great clarity about how she was going to expand nationally. All in the space of 2 weeks since our last meeting.

I thought each of these by themselves was an amazing success. But, she forgot to look at the successes. She was looking at the problems.

So, we stopped and celebrated.

We spoke about each one. Felt the delight in each one. I appreciated each one. Talked about looking back on these simple milestones 1 year and 3 years from now and …. smiling about them. I talked about how there was nothing wrong with right now. Right now was great, perfect, delicious, playful, exciting, energizing, amazing, wonderful. And, it was.

She felt empowered. She felt lighter, more relaxed, calmer. She felt so much better!

Just from a shift in perspective.

Where do you need to do this?

Stop. Review. Celebrate.

See the positives. See the successes. Feel grateful for them. Appreciate them. Smile. Do a happy dance. Shift your perspective.

I want to challenge you to take time to do this every day or every week.

Schedule it on your calendar. It is a simple shift from “it is all hard work” to “I’ve been really successful and am grateful and delighted with these simple accomplishments and milestones I’ve manifested this week”. Smile. Feel good. Feel the energy and gratitude.

Do this for yourself. Practice it. It may be hard to come up with things the first week or two, but don’t move on until you’ve come up with 5–10 things each week. This shift in energy from “hard” to “celebrating the milestones” will attract more things to celebrate. It is simply a shift in perspective. It is simply a shift to a more empowering, delightful space to live and work.

You can do this in any area of your life.

Try it and let me know how it goes.