Celebrate Your Successes and Honor Your Accomplishments

It may be surprising to hear, but many of my executive clients come to me for coaching to enhance their ability to stop for a moment and truly acknowledge their successes. 

We all often find that we complete tasks or projects and quickly move on to the next. And often we are working on several at a time.

I cannot stress enough how critical it is to stop and honor what you have done. 

Here is a personal example of mine:

I was on a complex element of a ropes course.  There were several stages and components.  When I got near the end where I would zip line down to the ground, I was quick to say... let's get moving.

The facilitator stopped me and physically turned me around pointing back through all of the stages I had navigated.  She said, "We will not move forward until you stop and SEE what you just accomplished." 

I have to say, I got a bit choked up.  You see, I, like perhaps many of you, rarely take the moment to stand in my "brilliance."  (Side note:  This is one reason why I named my company Brilliancy).

It is not just a disservice to us.  It is much worse.  Unless we stop and honor ourselves, we lose the opportunity to truly ground the learning AND to experience how we have changed - grown!

So, here is a client of mine who worked on this in our coaching program.

Coaching Topic:

What: 

To be able to celebrate my successes so that I honor my accomplishments and embody growth bringing it with me into new challenges and directions.

Why:   

• I want to be able to finish the day feeling fulfilled.
• I want to be able to let go of issues once they have been resolved.
• No more wrestling alligators in my sleep!

Here is how he was currently operating in this topic: 

Current Way of Being:

Way of The Strategic Commander

How this has served you:

The strategic commander is a facilitator of order. You stand as a beacon of efficiency and leadership.

Your mind is a command center, orchestrating plans and strategies with precision. As a strategic director, you thrive in organized environments, efficiently leading others toward common goals.

Your ability to envision and implement effective plans propels success for the team.

You are decisive and you lead with authority and confidence.

Your steadfast reliability fosters trust in those who rely on your support.

You take pride in building cohesive teams, fostering collaboration, and creating a sense of unity.

 Your team appreciates:

•  Holding them accountable
• Upfront honesty
• That you tell the truth
• That you want the best for them

 How this limits you:

The problem with being so fixated on what works is that you may often dismiss what might work better.

You spend time ruminating at the end of the day.  This is disrupting your sleep which ultimately impacts your health.  This creates less of an ability to deal with stress in general.  It impacts your mental and emotional strength.

Uncomfortable with Change – When suddenly forced to try unvetted solutions, you may become uncomfortable and stressed. New ideas suggest that your methods weren’t good enough.  Abandoning what has always worked before in favor of something that may fail risks your image of reliability.

Perhaps you have strong convictions about what is right and wrong.  Maybe you feel the compulsion to create order ignoring the possibility that there is more than one right way to get things done.

You do not hesitate to let people you disagree with know what you think, considering it your duty to set things right.

You take pride in the respect of colleagues, and while difficult to admit, you are concerned with public/professional opinions others may have of you. Perhaps you get caught up in meeting others’ expectations, failing to address your own needs.

Difficulty Relaxing when events of the day keep playing in your mind.

You dislike uncertainty, inefficiency, being challenged, or having your opinions dismissed. You tend to feel the most stress when you’re unable to control the world around you.

You are often so matter of fact that you may come across to others as brash or unfeeling. You put so much emphasis on logic, numbers, and facts, that perhaps you sometimes forget that other people may have different values or different opinions about what’s most important.

Difficulty Expressing Emotion ?  Seems quite rational at the expense of other emotions.  Empathy?

 New Way of Being:  

The Way of The Joyful Flight Captain

The Joyful Flight Captain feels a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment from his accomplishments and the positive impact he has on others.

He experiences consistent levels of energy and enthusiasm throughout the day.

He views his mind as the cockpit, where he makes crucial decisions and manages his thoughts, much like a pilot manages the controls of an aircraft.

He is flexible and adaptable, much like a pilot who adjusts course based on weather conditions and other variables.

He acknowledges and celebrates his successes, no matter how small. He understands that celebrating milestones is crucial for maintaining a positive outlook and sustaining long-term success.

He views himself as a guiding force for others, offering stability and direction.

His sense of joy comes from his love of the journey and the satisfaction of helping others reach their destinations safely and happily.

He has created a harmonious and productive environment around him, with his team thriving under his guidance.

He leads by example, inspiring others to embrace their journey with confidence and positivity.

His structured approach, combined with a joyful outlook, ensures he is always moving forward, celebrating successes, and ready for new challenges.

We designed these objectives to enable him to grow into his New Way of Being:

 Developmental Objectives:  

1. You have developed a perspective of curiosity about yourself and others in challenging situations.  About how you are responding.  About how they are presenting.
2. You have improved your ability to recognize and acknowledge personal successes in real time, rather than overlooking or downplaying them. 
3. While you’re driven by sound logic, others may be motivated by passion or creativity. You have gotten to know your team more deeply. You remind yourself that people have different talents. 
4. Design a structured reflection process to analyze what worked well in achieving success and what could be improved. This helps in extracting valuable lessons from each accomplishment or challenge, which can be applied to future endeavors.

Over the course of 5 months, we worked on these specific objectives through focused practices and in-depth coaching conversations.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this methodology.  I believe it is adequately intensive while being elegant.  It is grounded in Human Developmental Theory.

Please reach out to me to discuss your ideas of what you would like to approach in your unique topic.

~ Sheila

sheila@brilliancy.us

https://brilliancy.us

Phone:  828 788 5959