Recognizing Your Accomplishments and Celebrating Your Own Success

by Andrea Mundie

It’s our first anniversary of publishing our magazine, and at Pillars of Franchising, we are celebrating our success as a resource to the franchise industry. But let’s pause for a moment and reflect on our personal successes.

Do you take time to recognize and celebrate when you have accomplished a goal or been successful? It seems to be a pretty typical pattern that many women do not celebrate our accomplishments. Let’s dig into why, why it is important and how to make changes toward more personal acknowledgment of our success.

I remember a pivotal moment years ago when I was a new franchisor. I was in the throes of opening new locations with franchisees while also still opening some corporate locations. I had just found out I was having another baby (3 of my 4) and had moved a week prior into a house I was so excited to be able to live in. There were many great things happening around me. Right after we opened one of the new locations, I remember heading home and thinking, “I have a couple of hours to plow through emails before heading to bed.” And then I realized in that moment, I had not even taken a second to reflect on the accomplished goals or to celebrate. I moved into my new home, was opening new locations, having another baby and achieving the goals I had set. Yet I was trapped in the cycle of the next thing on the list. Luckily, I caught myself and took a moment to breathe it in and look hard at all that had been accomplished in short succession. While it may not have been a big ‘celebration’, recognizing when we have achieved our own definition of success is important.

Certain attributes have historically been viewed as negative when displayed by women. From young ages, we have been told that being humble and quiet is more appealing than being boastful and gregarious. Assertive women have long been called aggressive, while assertive men who display the same behavior are called “strong leaders.” So it makes sense that women may tend to downplay our accomplishments in order to avoid these feelings.

Women also tend to celebrate the success of others more often than their own. If we have children, nieces and nephews, we are often in situations where the first thing we discuss is their accomplishments. We are called “proud moms,” or “proud aunts” and we genuinely do feel proud. But we can be equally proud of our own successes, and in turn, teach those who follow in our footsteps to do the same. And there are many good reasons to recognize and celebrate us.

Why is recognizing and celebrating our success important to our mental well-being?

1.

Accomplishing goals has a motivational effect. We want to do it again.

2.

When we feel competent, we feel more confident.

3.

When we feel confident and successful, we tend to emit more positive energy towards others.

4.

When we feel recognized, even when the recognition comes from ourselves, we don’t harbor feelings of resentment.

How can we make some simple changes to move into recognizing and even celebrating our successes?

Here are a few changes to make right away.

1. Goals and Timelines

Be clear on what success looks like to you. Write out your goals and timelines for achieving them.

2. Don’t Compare

If you have set your own goals based on YOUR vision of success, other people’s success is their own and does not diminish yours.

3. Rewards

Create celebration rewards alongside your goals. This could be purchasing a coveted item for yourself or rewarding your- self with a day alone to rest and relax.

4. Share with Your People

Share these goals and rewards with those who support you. When they see you accomplish the goals, they EXPECT you to redeem your reward.

When we feel competent, we feel more confident.

5. Don’t Meet All Your Goals

Don’t beat yourself up about the goals you don’t meet. I personally believe we should meet about 75% of our goals. If we met all of them, they were likely too easy to accomplish. If we meet fewer, they are likely too out of reach and unrealistic.

6. Reflect on Your Failures

Focus on your successes but reflect on your failures. How did the failures create a different and sometimes better outcome? This could be a pivot to something better or a new path you’d otherwise not have discovered.

7. Keep a Gratitude Journal

I love one on Amazon called ‘Mindful as F%*k!. It is super quick and easy and literally changed my perception. In the ‘blessings’ section, I started to recognize myself sometimes and express gratitude towards myself at times. It is acceptable and positive to express gratitude towards yourself. This could be how you handled a difficult situation or accomplished something challenging. But small check-ins and acknowledgments, even privately, move you in the direction of being more celebratory about your own successes.

8. Look Back Over Time

Keeping track of your goals and having journals are great ways to look back over a period of time to reflect on the amazing things you have done. Especially at times when we might be feeling low or less than successful.

With so many women becoming involved in the franchise industry, we have a lot to celebrate. And when we notice a reason to celebrate another woman, take it and make sure she celebrates too. Happy Anniversary!