Several weeks into starting her new business, Barbara was feeling down. She had yet to land her first contract and felt fearful when she looked ahead, worried that her first sale would not come in time for her to meet her financial commitments. The more she felt this way, the harder she found it to take action towards her goals.

Some people tell themselves that focusing on the gap between where they are and where they want to be will provide the motivation to move forward. Barbara’s experience, however, suggests that the opposite is true. In a business which depends on building relationships over time, it was realistic that it would take several months for her to land her first contract and Barbara had made plans for this. At the same time, as long as she focussed on “winning the contract” as her only measure of success, she found it hard to get started in the morning and even harder to find the motivation to take action towards such a distant goal.

Barbara’s motivation improved dramatically when she started to celebrate each small step towards her goal, including the steps that others took on her behalf. This change of emphasis meant that she could take time at the end of each day to notice and celebrate her successes. Even steps she judged to be unsuccessful were nonetheless steps. Celebrating in this way helped Barbara to become “match fit” to take action towards her goals.

Here are some questions to help you to explore the extent to which you are able to celebrate success:

• What is the balance of your attention at present and how much of it goes towards those things that are moving you in the right direction?
• What credit do you give yourself for those actions you take towards your goals?
• To what extent do you celebrate those actions others take that help you to move forward?
• To what extent can you celebrate success without hearing an inner voice that judges you or seeks to guide you in some other direction?

What additional questions come up for you when you think about the extent to which you celebrate success?