Celebrate the Wins!

How often do you say or hear someone say - 

I will celebrate when I have completed this... project, job, goal...etc

(You can insert anything you might be working on or towards here!)

All the time, right?

Now, I personally do love a good celebration but I know that I have said this phrase many times over the years and the problem I started noticing was....I wasn't getting to celebrate very often!

I know this sounds like I wasn't getting jobs completed or goals achieved - which is true in some instances but not in others. 

The problem is...I think it is human nature to 'save' our celebrations for what we consider 'the big things' or 'big milestones' - which is great, don't get me wrong! They are absolutely worth celebrating.

But...

 Why aren't we celebrating along the way?

Why aren't we celebrating the journey? The baby steps? The small wins? The distance travelled?

Over the course of this year, I have learned, both in and out of the school context, to celebrate the small wins and I have discovered something incredible.....

We have small wins EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!  And often...MORE THAN ONE!!

The small wins can be as simple as 'ticking something off of your to-do list' or 'finding my desk' (which is a win any time that happens at work!) or making some time for a project or goal you might be working on. 

It seriously does not have to be a big thing!

I am extremely fortunate enough this year to be working with a beautiful soul who has embraced the celebration of 'small wins' with me and together we have moved through our year with more high fives than I can ever recall!

Why? Because our sense of achievement is coming from doing something we said we would get done that day. We all know to-do lists never get shorter! There is always stuff to do! But getting a job done earlier than expected or getting to cross something off my list is 'high five worthy' in my book.

The result:

Together, we have felt success - even through the challenging, time crunching moments of our days.

Together, we have shared the joy of knowing we were moving forward, even in the smallest ways.

Together, we get to look back and realise how far we have actually travelled, even though we did not realise it at the time because we were doing all the small things.

This week, this beautiful soul and I have been celebrating the distance travelled with our little humans at school. This is the kind of thing that brings me joy, fills my bucket and inspires me to do what I do. 

And being able to share that with those around you - the adults and the kids - brings it to life just a little bit more and it also spreads the joy and celebrations!

And how exciting is it when you get to help your kids realise that they have done something small that they couldn't do before! Or that they ticked something off that they were asked to do! SO COOL!! Why would you not celebrate that?

How do you know when you have been successful and had a win - even a small one?

How would you finish this sentence....

I know I am successful when...

Whatever you are doing... whatever your child is doing... how are you going to celebrate along the way and help them to see the journey includes the small baby steps?

The journey can be tough travelling for our little humans, especially in school when there is so much to learn. But the journey and the struggle is the important part. 

 Small stuff for kids at school: 

*Using a reading strategy with success *Doing a little more on a task than yesterday *Remembering a couple more sight words *Using a problem-solving strategy in a conflict with a friend *Figuring out how to do something they were finding challenging (anything at all!) *Remembering to take a water bottle home! *Walking into the room with a smile in the morning ready for a great day! (It really is that simple!)

 I wonder what things you can celebrate at home?

Don't miss out on the joy in your day to day life by not celebrating the small stuff.

Help your kids to celebrate too. It does not take much to bring more joy to learning and life! All you have to do - is remember the small stuff counts!

No matter where you are in life, celebrate it. It's either a product of your growth or a place that will help you to grow.

Until next week...have a conscious and mindful week.

Clarissa xo