Or have you been celebrating enough?
Celebration is a necessary part of a happy, fulfilling, fully lived life. In fact, beyond the surface level of the good feelings it brings, there is another really fascinating piece.
When you are working on changing habits, celebrating when you follow through on the action(s) you are committed to wire this habit into your brain! This gives you even more assurance that you will turn this action into a habit, and probably more quickly, too.
Your brain starts to feel the positives just thinking about taking the action after a while and wow- celebration is fun- so we get to have fun doing it!
A celebration doesn’t have to be a party- it can even be some excited words or words of affirmation that you say to yourself after you follow through. Here’s an example:
A few months ago I started a Tiny Habit (definitely read the book if you have not- Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg PHD). I was having some bad dreams and restless sleep- actually, this was going on for quite some time. I devised a Tiny Habit to try to help my subconscious brain have some great fuel to sleep on, and the idea was to eradicate the bad dreams.
My Tiny Habit:
After I get into bed, I write down 10 things I am grateful for from that day.
When I am finished I say to myself “now I will have sweet dreams!” Sometimes I add a quiet woo hoo!
I am working on another one now to help me drink an electrolyte and mineral replenisher after I work out each time.
As soon as I finish my workout, I drink my Ultima in water. My celebration is- “look at that empty bottle- I feel great!”
Another thing about celebrating I want to suggests that you start doing some pre-celebrating! Pre-celebrating is a great extension of the goals you have set- it’s visualizing, in a way, but more- actually feeling the feeling and seeing yourself celebrating you reaching your goals. Pick one thing you are working on and haven’t yet completed. Take some quiet time to think about and feel how you will feel when you are finished and celebrating.
Maybe it’s even something you haven’t started yet. This may get you the spark to get you going!
Journal about these today:
What are you overdue for celebrating? When will you plan to celebrate?
What habit are you working on creating right now? How could you use celebration in your habit building?