Three Ways to Celebrate Your Progress

This post may appeal to you if celebrating is easy and natural for you and you are looking for something to celebrate. Or if you're more like me and celebrations are a wee bit more challenging because we realize how much work there is to do and wonder who has time to celebrate.

Over the last four weeks, I’ve had a goal of publishing three blog posts a week and connecting with as many people as possible around the topics. (Here’s where you can find the story and beginning of the thread.) I write every day, but to publish three times a week — now, that’s another issue.It’s what Seth Godin called shipping (great video here.) Get it done, put it out there. Shipping is extremely hard for perfectionists. We don’t like to ship something that is not yet perfect. Whatever your something is, it always needs more editing, tweaking, polishing. Always.[clickToTweet tweet="Shipping is difficult for perfectionists; nothing is ever fully finished, just finally released. " quote="Shipping is difficult for perfectionists; nothing is ever fully finished, just finally released. "]I’ve developed a habit of blocking time every day to write; yesterday was no exception. Except, that when I started to write, I realized I had passed a bit of a milestone. I was two-thirds of the way through my six-week project. Thinking back to my Gonzaga days and Jesuit influence, I paused to celebrate.For my fellow Type A, High D friends, I can hear you saying,

What? Stop and celebrate? Didn’t you say you’re only two-thirds of the way finished? What is there to celebrate? You do know that you still have a long way to go, shouldn’t you wait until you reach 100% to celebrate? If you stop now, you might get derailed and not finish the project? Then what?

Yeah. That’s me. And that’s how I’ve operated for years.Hi, I’m Kevin, and I am a perfectionist. I’m working hard to say, "recovering perfectionist", but, as many of you know, that's a monumental struggle. And some of you know that all too well.My typical approach has been to set a goal, make a plan, and work like crazy to get there. Once I arrive, pause long enough to set my sights on what’s next and dive back in and keep working.There was no time to celebrate. Besides, what was there to celebrate? The project wasn’t perfect. I could have, no, I should have done it better, faster, and smarter.[clickToTweet tweet="When perfection is your goal, there’s never enough progress to celebrate." quote="When perfection is your goal, there’s never enough progress to celebrate."]That may not be an epiphany for you. Let me assure you; it was for me.I am not exactly sure the source of those words. I am confident that I had never thought them before. But after I typed them, I stopped.I had to. Because the tears in my eyes prevented me from seeing my screen. At least for a moment. My running joke is that as a recovering perfectionist. I use hours, not days, to track my progress.

But yesterday was different.

For whatever reason, yesterday morning, I felt compelled to pause, reflect, and celebrate.I sat under a shade tree in a quiet place and began writing. I had paused; it felt good. Not overly driven; going with the flow.“Take some time to sit and think” were the instructions I gave myself. I sat in silence for what seemed like infinity. You know, maybe 30 or 45 seconds. I was doing my best to find that Zen-like happy place for meditation and reflection.Then I started writing. Here were the first words I wrote, “Reflecting on these past four weeks, here is what has not worked the way I had hoped.” Fortunately, I stopped myself. I had just written a 3-part series on abundance and had the presence of mind to recognize focusing on “what has not worked” was a scarcity mindset. And where it was leading was certainly not “my happy place.”If you don’t believe me, here’s a Facebook post I shared with some friends for accountability sake.I paused again. This time did a deep breathing exercise. Cleansing breaths provided a fresh start; here’s the do-over that followed.Pause. I started a list of the great things that have happened over the last month. I began making a list; it was much longer than I thought it might be. Undoubtedly, this has been the best four-week run I have had in a long time.Reflect. Ponder all of the little things that have happened these past four weeks that might not have otherwise happened. I have reconnected with colleagues and classmates; met kindred souls who crossed my path or me theirs.Celebrate! Express gratitude for honoring my intentions and commitment to ship - to write daily and publish three times a week. Celebrate every connection made with every person who invested their time to read and respond. Celebrate every conversation that occurred along the way. Celebrate the creativity that I didn’t think I had or thought I had lost!Celebrate the inspiration and encouragement of friends. Celebrate my willingness to launch new things like the Living Your WHY Facebook group that my dear friends Michael Hudson and Chris Cannon suggested I do. Celebrate the support of Michael Hudson and Ann Vertel, who wholeheartedly joined me on the inaugural WHY Conversations Blab.On top of that, it was Father’s Day. Celebrate my Dad for imparting to me a love for people, the ability to connect and converse. Celebrate my son, Josh for the great Dad he is to our granddaughter Emma.WOW! There were so many things to celebrate that were celebration-worthy.

And how about you?

When was the last time you paused for reflection and celebration? What progress have you made that is worth celebrating?[clickToTweet tweet="Forget perfection, celebrate progress. Celebrate early, celebrate often." quote="Forget perfection, celebrate progress. Celebrate early, celebrate often."]By celebrating, you find focus and harness energy to fuel the next phase of the journey.If celebrating is easy for you, please share with us your favorite practice so we can learn. If a celebration is something that requires greater effort on your part, will you commit to carving out time this week and find something to celebrate? Post your accomplishment in the comments and I’ll celebrate with you. Tweet me your accomplishment @kevin_monroe and I'll re-tweet it to share in the celebration.