Celebrating Every Achievement - Jam spreading like a pro
The what -
Whatever your day brings today, approach each activity in the form of tiny little stepping stones. Jump from one stone to another with the type of tail-wagging, toe-tapping excitement a Labrador shows when they see you walk towards the treats jar. Everything is a series of smaller things and we can't tackle them all at once. The thing we often forget is that each one of those little stepping stones is an achievement. So go ahead and get excited about them!
We don't need to fix everything or have all the answers, we just need to take little steps. Try it with everything today, just for a bit of fun. Start your day by congratulating yourself on every little step you take to make your bed, get dressed and prepare breakfast.
Give yourself all the credit you deserve for all the many wonderful things you do. If you kept a journal or mental list of every one of your small but valuable achievements from today, I bet you would impress yourself!
The why -
OK, so this sounds a bit weird and silly, right? Like, you actually want me to congratulate myself on making breakfast - are you serious?!
Ermmmm.....Yep!
A bazzilion great things
We accomplish by my (totally unscientific) estimation approximately a bazillion great things in a day. We often measure our success by the big milestones we achieve, like landing a new job or buying a house. But what about the small wins? Taking a moment to acknowledge and celebrate every little accomplishment can be incredibly uplifting and motivating. Even mundane tasks like making your bed or preparing breakfast require a series of small accomplishments that are worth recognizing.
We rarely give ourselves credit for most things we do. So why not for just one day, give yourself all the credit you deserve for everything you accomplish and have some fun with it?
"Give yourself credit. You are doing so much better than you think you are. You are so much more accomplished than you know." - Brianna Wiest
I mean I get it - spreading some jam on your toast doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment right? But think about all the motor skills you had to learn to be able to do that. What about having bread to make your toast - it didn't get there by accident, did it?
Actually you had to get ready, travel and find the bread in the shop. Pay for the bread with money you had to earn, converse with the person at the checkout and get yourself safely back home again. These may seem like small feats, but they are all worth recognising as achievements, built on skills, learnt through tons of practice.
So in this process you have actually applied all these great skills;
Thought, organisation, motor skills, language skills, hard work, common sense and probably all sorts of other wonderful things - just so you have some bread to make toast with!
Just because we do these tasks all the time, doesn't mean they aren't valuable or real achievements. But we tend to only congratulate ourselves on the 'new' or 'exceptional' wins and that can give us the view that we aren't accomplishing much. If you've ever heard the saying 'If you don't use it, you lose it' well there's some truth to this too. If we didn't keep using these skills, we could get out of practice with them. So if buttering your toast means you are practising and refining your skill set, why not celebrate that?
Thirty Five and Three Quarters and Smashing it
Speaking of celebrations, I practically threw myself a party when I finally learned to shuffle cards! Was learning to shuffle cards a life-changing achievement? Nah.
Useful at least? Well not all that much really, I don't work in Vegas. But it sure is easier than the 'spread them all over the table and mix them about a bit' method, that I had been using on the rare occasions I found myself playing a card game.
And do you know what? I'm properly, actually, super proud of it. Because on the odd occasions that I needed to shuffle a card or two, it bothered me that I couldn't. So I grabbed some cards and watched a couple 'how to shuffle cards for beginners' videos on YouTube. Now at the age of thirty five and three quarters, while others are busy finding cures for diseases and building tech to discover life on other planets, I'm learning how to shuffle cards, without dropping them all over the floor. And yeah, i'm damn well proud of it!
Labrador-level enthusiasm
Taking time to celebrate your own achievements can also boost your confidence and help you feel more accomplished. So try keeping a journal or mental list of every small accomplishment you achieve throughout the day – from making breakfast to finishing a task at work. Did you park your car perfectly in that tight spot? Nice parking skills! Did you remember to water your plants? Well done for being responsible! These small achievements may seem insignificant, but they add up to big wins in the long run. So embrace Labrador-level enthusiasm for taking these small steps and congratulate yourself on each one.
We also tend to rely on others for motivation and encouragement a little too much. So by taking time to celebrate yourself, you can infuse your day with positivity and motivation. Plus it gives your mind a fun game to play and an extra skip in your step today.
So, spread that jam with all your vigour and absolute proficiency. Be the toast-making pro I know you are and congratulate yourself on a job well done! I bet you will be amazed at the level of accomplishment you achieve in your day.
The Who -
This little feather was inspired by an old friend who is a teacher. I always wondered where her confidence stems from and it turns out, a lot of it is because of this technique. She congratulates her students on all of their small but important steps through life and learning. So she figured, why not congratulate herself too?! And she does, in her mind, whenever she needs a little boost.
Lou @ Feathered Paths Xx