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Celebrating wins encourages the heart because it emphasizes the reality that we really are moving forward, When life is just one long string of events, those events run together without separators. Celebrating wins emphasizes that we really are going somewhere good, and we actually have a chance of getting there. In this episode of Calibrate Life, we discuss the importance of celebrating our wins.
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The Importance of Celebrating Wins
Most of us have the tendency to roll from one thing right into the next, but celebrating wins and victories is an important part of life and leadership. Celebration is much like rest, it is important and enjoyable, but its contribution to the finish line isn’t immediately tangible. In fact, celebration of wins and victories may even be seen as unimportant.
Celebration is closely related to rest. It is important emotionally and practically. When life is just one long string of events, those events run together without separators. Celebrating wins encourages the heart because it emphasizes the reality that we really are moving forward, we really are going somewhere good, and we actually have a chance of getting there.
Episode 104 of the Calibrate Life Podcast is a big deal to us. It marks the two-year anniversary of our launch. It is the completion of a goal I set to do two-years of releases on Thursday mornings, no matter what, Lord willing. Why?
- I would not give myself permission to quit too early, before we really learned what we were doing.
- I wanted to give the podcast a chance to mature, and us a chance to find our voice.
- I wanted to push past the learning curve and into proficiency before deciding to continue or quit.
- I wanted to push beyond the fickle encouragement and discouragement of high and low download numbers. I knew I would need to push past who was and was not listening.
- I wanted to give God an opportunity to do in us what he wanted to do.
- I didn’t want to quit before I discovered the “why” behind the “why.”
We’ve made a lot of discoveries on this journey, and as I’ve considered the victory of actually meeting a determined goal of doing 104 consistent Thursday releases. Episode 99 was a “celebration episode” of sorts, but crossing this mark made us think about the importance of celebrating wins.
In this episode we will discuss 6 benefits every leader and every team can experience through taking the time to simply celebrate our wins, victories, and accomplishments.
What is “Celebrating Wins?”
What is “Celebrating Wins?”
- It is pausing after an event or accomplishment to rest, reflect, pull the team together, and just affirm direction and actually celebrate.
- It is a “Selah.” A pause to breathe, to recoup, and to reflect
Why is it Important to Celebrate Our Wins?
- Rest. After a big push, taking a short break in celebration is emotionally healthy, it gives the team something to look forward to. Mentally, to just roll right from one thing into the next in perpetuity really starts to wear on you and everyone else.
- Reflection. Taking the time to reflect on the victories, the challenges, and what we learned and experienced is important. To gather shared experiences give different facets that encourage the whole. Reflection gives an opportunity to download, to talk about the victory, and to discuss opportunities for the future.
- Affirmation. It gives an intentional opportunity to affirm those involved. To acknowledge contributions and efforts, and to celebrate one another and God.
- Thanksgiving. When we celebrate a win, we celebrate the author of the win. We acknowledge God’s grace and favor in helping us serve effectively in His Kingdom.
- Accountability. We affirm those who followed through, and we inspire the team to be accountable to agreed upon goals. Celebrating wins actually gives later opportunity for reinforcing accountability among team members.
- Encouragement. Celebrating a short-term victory gives insight into and reinforces long-term vision and goals. Celebrating a win gives opportunity to inspire ourselves and the team through a greater understanding of how singular events and occasions are building toward the mission and vision we are pursuing.
Calibration Tools… Calibrating Your Life and Lifting Those You Love and Lead
- How are you at celebrating wins? What improvements must you make in this area?
- Look at your calendar and define the big “pushes” that should be celebrated. It may be an “all hands on deck” outreach, or something that took a lot of planning and effort for the team to successfully execute, or a significant milestone.
- With every big push, event, or effort, think about the celebration. It can be as simple as getting a box of donuts and sitting down for an hour to eat them, going out for lunch, or something else simple, the important thing is taking time to breath, to reflect, and to rest.
- Plan your next celebration.
Finally…
We need to acknowledge our own hard work and the work of our teams. When we don’t take the time to celebrate and be glad for good things that happened, we can become discouraged because all we can see is the next mountain.
We use a mountain climbing analogy a lot, because we love the mountains, and we love to hike and explore. But when you climb a mountain, you stand at the top for at least a few minutes. You breathe the fresh air, you enjoy the view, you celebrate the joy of the moment. You know you have to hike back down and take on other mountains later, but in that moment, you did it, you are there, soak it in, be glad for it, and celebrate. It encourages the heart to take on even bigger mountains. You got this!
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