Our days, weeks and months are absolutely filled with positive steps we are taking, with growth, with achievements and successes big, small and all sizes in between. However it can be really easy for us to overlook, neglect or even completely ignore all of these amazing things we are doing and positive impact we make for ourselves, others and the world.

You might notice that the goal posts keep moving, as soon as you achieve something, it’s straight onto the next thing, without a moment of acknowledgement for the milestone you’ve just passed. But what we don’t realise is that celebrating our progress has a huge positive psychological effect, which can impact our wellbeing, motivation, resilience and overall positive thinking.

When we celebrate, it helps to releases dopamine in our brains which gives you the feeling of pleasure, satisfaction and motivation. By having a dopamine hit after you’ve achieved something, this can help reinforce the neural pathway of that behaviour, meaning you’re more likely to repeat it (this comes in handy particularly when you’re creating new positive habits for example)

Here is a great simple tool to use, to really help you recognise and celebrate your achievements.

STEP ONE

Here is your celebration menu. This is a beautiful record of lovely ways you can celebrate your successes big and small, which is ready right at your fingertips. By having this list of things in advance, it means you can more easily plan and be specific about what you will do to celebrate, when and how, and make sure it is factored into your schedule.

• Maybe some are on your own, some are with a group of other people, or one very special person

• Some may be things you can do for free, whilst others you might want to spend something

• Some might be about acquiring things, whilst others about creating an experience

• Some may be calming, relaxing, some maybe exhilarating and adrenaline pumping!

• Some might be things you can do in five minutes, whereas some may be a large-scale celebration like a holiday.

STEP TWO

Once you’ve had a think about possible ideas, you can start curating your menu. You can use this framework as you wish, but here are some ideas:

• The starter section, can be smaller ways to celebrate things in a more frequent way e.g. having an undisturbed bubble bath with a beautiful candle and glass of wine or treating yourself for a fancy coffee and cake with a friend at your favourite cafe

• The mains section could be slightly bigger ways to celebrate that need a bit more advance planning e.g. booking a delicious meal out, arranging a nice walk in the countryside with friends, booking off an afternoon from work to do exactly what you want to do.

• The desserts section could be for those really special occasions, that deserve a celebration a bit out of the ordinary.

STEP THREE

Next you can think about attributing a time for when you will celebrate each of these things on your menu. I,e. I will do X when I accomplish X.

By planning in advance how you will celebrate, will not only give an extra boost of motivation for completing the goal, but will also help you to make sure you protect time to recognise and celebrate yourself and your achievements. Keep this menu somewhere accessible and visible so it stays an active part of your routine.