“The markers for our ‘success’ are constantly moving. If you’re not careful, you’ll cheat yourself of the opportunity to properly celebrate each one as you move along.”

Sometime last year I was chatting with a friend, and she shared a story which really stuck with me. My friend was talking about how we constantly move the goal posts for our ambitions, and rarely enjoy the fulfilment of reaching a goal.

In this particular instance we were talking about life milestones.

The markers for our ‘success’ are constantly moving. If you’re not careful, you’ll cheat yourself of the opportunity to properly celebrate each one as you move along.

It’s the same with work.

Have you ever set a goal for yourself, only to reach it and kind of bypass the celebration?

Goals by their very nature often involve ‘taking more on’. It’s easy to see how once you achieve that goal, you may be so busy in the aftermath that you forget to celebrate.

But if you’re not celebrating, who is? And furthermore, when are you going to give yourself credit for your efforts and achievements?

Having realised that this was something I was 100% guilty of too, I decided to start thinking about another way to celebrate my successes.

Rather than waiting for the fact to happen, I started a tradition of ‘pre-celebration’.

“I’m celebrating the whole journey, rather than the end result.”

Instead of waiting for something to be totally realised, I started celebrating the journey getting there.

For instance, if I have a big collaboration coming up, or a goal I’m about to realise, I’ll celebrate a few days, or even weeks, before.

This goes hand in hand with creative visualisation. You’re more likely to realise your dreams and goals, if you already feel the high of that achievement. 

I’m celebrating the whole journey, rather than the end result. And enjoying the feeling of achievement throughout. 

By doing this I’ve found that I truly recognise my achievements. I no longer let them slip by.

I love Mel’s post on the importance of Self Reward too; this speaks to how important it is to acknowledge when you’ve done a darn good job!

This in turn motivates us to continue pursuing future goals.

That being said . . .

You don’t always need a milestone to excuse a glass of champagne, or a special treat. 

Every now and then, you won’t have something ‘big’ to celebrate (or pre-celebrate), but you feel like you want to recognise your hard work nonetheless.

My advice? Celebrate.

Celebrate the fact that you’re tirelessly working. You 100% deserve that recognition.

What’s Your Take? 

This is a conversation I’d love to have with you. How do you recognise your achievements?

Do you already pre-celebrate? Do you have a ‘treat’ in mind for once you’ve realised your goals? And, can you share what it is?!

Love, Monica x

– Photo courtesy – I sourced the image for this blog post via Pinterest. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the original credit so if you know the photographer please drop me a line ☺️ –

This post was originally published in 2018, and has been updated for 2022

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