Celebrate little success to enjoy huge success

We look for success in everything we do. Success is the ultimate goal in every activity we embark on a daily basis, be it job- related or otherwise.

Look at these simple examples such as cooking, sleeping, driving, singing, selling, holidaying, engaging in religious activities, loving or playing a game; the success of all these activities are defined and measured through different ways and means. When success is achieved, doesn't it motivate you further to do better? In any activity success is measured by you first and then by the others, think about this.

Reason for failure?

We all work towards achieving success and it is success that keeps us going. Little successes progress and graduate to be huge ones over time. Most people have a habit of waiting for huge successes to feel good about or to celebrate. When successes don't come your way you get frustrated and even give up achieving little successes.

Then consistent failure occurs and you make yourself a person without success and then a downward trend takes precedence.

Keep saying well done and thank you to yourself

Sometimes people don't realise that they have achieved a certain measure of success. Often success is not celebrated correctly and you just keep working without actually giving yourself time to pat yourself on the back. Most our people have no idea how important it is to congratulate themselves and celebrate each step they succeed to their ultimate goal.

Of course you also need to take the time to thank others for their contribution and help whenever that happens.

Stimulation through celebration

Others will only recognise your big wins that have value to them or to your organisation. And you know that they are rare given the level of toughness or competition relative to performance expectations. The time gap between huge success is always longer but you know that people need regular or frequent motivation to keep performing well.

On the contrary, celebrating small successes has its own benefits for those who aspire to be successful in every activity they lay their hands on. Psychologically, you feel that you are a winner and you can continue to do well. This then becomes conviction and you start to believe in your inner power and competence.

The feeling of success is something you don't want to let go and it stimulates and persuades you to keep on succeeding.

This helps you to tap into the maximum capacity you posses. Do you now see the cyclical effect of celebrating little successes?

Learn from what you see and do

Learn from what you see around you and what you subconsciously do. How have you motivated your child as a parent, uncle or an aunt? Pause for a moment and close your eyes, do you now see the images of what you do and how you motivated a baby or a toddler to shape their behaviour?

All humans have a basic need for frequent simple pleasures to enjoy life and it's you who can look for and get these simple pleasures to further motivate you.

Celebration helps 're-charge your batteries' for a longer and more successful journey with the sense of satisfaction you get.

Celebrate your success

Sri Lankans have a habit of celebrating others success or may I call it external successes. No matter what your day has been at your work place, if the Sri Lankan cricket team wins a game against Pakistan, you would be happy and feel your day has been successful. Remember how you celebrated when Sri Lanka won the Cricket World Cup and Susanthika Jayasinghe won the Silver medal at the Olympics?

I don't mean to say that it's bad to celebrate our success. By all means that is the right thing to do. What I advocate though is, if you believe in personal growth and progressive success in life, it's important that you celebrate your success first. No matter how small it is. Just be aware that little successes stack up and become huge ones.

It's not about partying but . . .

Celebration is all about being happy or feeling good about what you have achieved and it's not about partying, for which we are well known, as a nation. Instead, thinking about success, sharing the success story with someone who is close to you, writing it somewhere, taking a chocolate home for your spouse or children and going to a place of worship are a means of celebration to motivate you to achieve frequent success. You learn to enjoy it, it will naturally motivate you to do better in life. See if this simple philosophy can facilitate a small change in you this year. I'm sure it will!