In his book “Daily Readings for your Best Life Now”, Joel Osteen talks about a famous mountain climbing resort in the Swiss Alps, catering to businesses that encourage their employees to hike up the mountains and trails together. The goal is to build camaraderie and to teach teamwork. Although it is about an eight-hour trek to the summit, anyone with normal walking ability can ascend to the top. Each morning, the hikers gather at the base of the mountain for a pep talk before starting to climb. Usually, the group is so excited, they can hardly wait to head up the slopes, to have a group picture taken and to celebrate their victory.
They hike for several hours before taking a break. Approximately halfway up the mountain stands a quaint alpine restaurant. About noon, the weary hikers trudge into the restaurant, peel off their hiking gear, and plop down by the fireplace to have a cup a cup of coffee, or drink some hot chocolate, and eat their lunch. With the mountain as their backdrop, the hikers savor the warm, cozy, picturesque setting.
Interestingly, after they are full and comfortable, less than half the hikers choose to continue climbing to the top of the mountain. It isn’t because they aren’t able; it isn’t because the climb is too difficult. Their reluctance to continue is simply because they are satisfied with where they are. They lose their drive to excel, to explore new horizons, to experience vistas they’d never previously imagined possible. They have tasted a bit of success, and they think, “THIS IS GOOD ENOUGH.”
This story should serve to remind us that we must not allow yesterday’s success or any success that we might experience in the moment to lull us into complacency.
HOWEVER, it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate what we have accomplished.
Too often we neglect to take note of our progress along the way and so when we achieve the result we set out to, it’s sometimes empty and devoid of any real feelings of joy and accomplishment.
If you enjoyed a great strategic planning session (like I did yesterday along with the management team of the Plant People Limited) – take the time to high five yourself or those you’re working with. In my case it had been a long two days and everyone on the team worked hard in developing the path to success for the next 90 days.
Jessica Hinterberg says:
It turns out, there is something to the concept of celebrating successes, big and small. We all need motivation and incentives along the way to keep us on track, whether it’s a personal or professional life goal. This helps energize us, keeps us engaged, and allows us to pause and smile while forging ahead. We all need positive reinforcement in our daily habits to have the confidence and focus to keep moving forward. Those small rewards that help us along are what leads to those bigger successes we celebrate at the end of the year.
If you need some ideas on how to celebrate your successes check out these practical ideas from Jessica here.
Most of our goals comprise of small achievements, sometimes even years of many small successes. How will you celebrate when you hit the next benchmark en route to your outcome?
Our day ended with some good food, drinks and music around the pool, overlooking the Mount Irvine Golf Course. We chatted about how important the last two days were and how challenging the road ahead was yet everyone was happy to be involved and up for tackling all that needed to be done in the next 90 days. Cheers!
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