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The Idea of the Week
Celebration is usually reserved for the “things worthy of celebrating.” The Big Wins, like graduating from college, having a successful business, or achieving financial wealth. The celebratory moments are the Big Wins that society considers as success.
Publishing a New York Times Bestselling book? That’s a success. That’s worthy of celebrating.
Doing the laundry when you struggled to drag yourself out of bed in the morning? That’s not a success. That’s a responsibility and not worthy of celebrating, your mind may tell you.
But why isn’t doing the laundry worthy of celebrating? Especially when you’ve put in a lot of energy, and now you have the comfortable workout clothes to actually feel motivated to go for a walk. Or simply, you have the comfortable, clean clothes you need to feel cozy and refreshed.
Just because the task looks like an ant does not mean it took little effort. A task the size of an ant can take a mountain of effort to achieve on some days, or even on most days.
Celebrate your small wins because celebrating helps us stay motivated. Celebrating boosts our self-efficacy, or the belief in our ability to meet challenges. Celebrate the small wins because celebrating is fun and keeps the day alive.
Check out this Psychology Today article for more on Why Our Brains Need to Celebrate.
The Practice of the Week
Celebration may bring to mind big parties, fireworks, or loud music and dance parties. As busy folks managing our day-to-day responsibilities, celebrating by throwing a party for every small win is not realistic.
There are many ways to celebrate both in the moment, which is essential for building strong habits, and later when it is more convenient to celebrate.
Say you have a goal of learning a new language. You identify that you need to build a habit of studying this new language daily, and you may ambitiously try to study for 1 hour every day.
If you have the time and a strong commitment, then perhaps this is doable. For many people, though, this may feel overwhelming or demotivating after the initial excitement has worn off. So, BJ Fogg, a researcher on human behavior, suggests making tiny habits. In his formula for creating and sticking to a tiny habit to achieve your goals, BJ Fogg suggests using purpose-focused celebrations to celebrate your tiny habit.
The method that BJ Fogg offers is to celebrate with a sentence that you repeat right after you complete your tiny habit. This is helpful to give your brain immediate feedback on the behavior. There are other ways to celebrate as well.
In this 12-minute video, Brendon offers 3 ideas to Celebrate the Small Wins:
- Create a reflection schedule on a daily or weekly basis. The longer you go without reflection, the more likely you are to forget what happened. In your reflection session, consider what happened in the week that felt good and what small steps you took to make progress on your goals.
- Feel the win. Sit with the feeling. Don’t try to move on to the next thing just yet. Let your body remember it.
- Share your win. As Brendon suggests, share it with enthusiasm. Let the joy and excitement relive in your body when you share your small win with someone.
What is your small win today? Comment down below!
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The Thought of the Week
Wishing you a peaceful week!
