Celebrations matter.
TL;DR
Celebrations matter because it’s much easier to build on success when you ACKNOWLEDGE it. As we celebrate 19 years of Capes Coaching this week, we plan to celebrate with YOU!
Last week I fell into the exact kind of trap I warn my students about all the time:
Neglecting to celebrate reaching a goal.
In my case, I’ve been working so hard toward my goal that I ended up working straight on through it!
Since we launched The Creative Path course officially in September, I’ve been so wrapped up in getting the course out into the world, as well as managing our amazing new online community, that I was ready to work straight through our 19 year anniversary this week and just keep chugging along.
That is, until I came across this photo of my notes from a Path brainstorming session from...wait for it... 2015 and realized that I actually accomplished MY BIG VISION for the company.
Here’s what I said nearly 10 years ago:
“To make our transformative course available worldwide and to have built a community to support all of our students — past, present, and future. And to do all of this in alignment with our mission and values as a company, making a significant impact on how individual creatives approach their careers.”
Boom.
WHAT?!!!!
I had to just STOP.
Wait, we DID this. I have built this. 🤯
My team has been trying to get me to take this in, but there is never enough time, and there are too many other things taking my focus.
I’ve been SO BUSY living in the aftermath of having built the course and the community that I didn’t even realize that I had accomplished this huge part of my BIG VISION!!
I wish I could say I don’t see this often in the coaching room, but alas…
Just recently, one of my clients had sold his show to a network and was so busy dealing with building his team and all the next steps that he didn’t even take a beat to acknowledge that he finally sold his show after over 5 years of shopping it around!
So why are celebrations important?
Celebrations matter because it’s much easier to build on success when you have ACKNOWLEDGED it.
When you have achieved a goal, it’s imperative that you acknowledge it in some way — with something of your choosing that will feel like a reward.
If you skip this step and move right on to the next goal, it’s easy to lose motivation, which can eventually lead to burnout.
And if you are a person who is motivated by rewards, you might want to plan your celebration ahead of time — so you have that exciting thing on the horizon to look forward to.
If this feels foreign to you, it’s even more important that you commit to celebrating your wins.
Look at me, I was writing about this very burnout last week and the impact that it had on my trip to London.
In the spirit of practicing what I preach, I’ve thought long and hard about how I want to celebrate 19 years. Given the significance of this accomplishment, I've decided to celebrate in ways both small and personal, as well as BIG AND SPLASHY.
First, I’m going to go on a special walk on Saturday, to think about exactly where we were on April 1st, 2004.
Then I will take the time to journal about how far we have come.
Finally, I will make a few phone calls to special people who have been on this journey with me, to practice generosity and thank them for believing in me.
Oh, and the splashy part? I want to celebrate with all of you.
As we begin our 20th year of business(!), I’m going to wholeheartedly honor this moment by diving in, cannonball-style, to this monumental year, and announce tomorrow some very special offers to my community of alumni, clients, and friends — without whom all of this would be moot. Stay tuned!
I promise you this: I will not let this anniversary come and go without acknowledging myself and all the people who have helped Capes Coaching reach this exciting milestone.
We've arrived, but we're only just beginning.
Thank you all for being by my side all of these years!
Betsy