Chapter 21

Reward Yourself

The last step in the ongoing journey is the simplest, but for some people, it isn't easy.

Are you waiting until you arrive at your final destination to celebrate your success? Do you realize that every small step along the way that is moving you toward your ultimate goal is something to celebrate?

Keep your long-term outcome in mind, but set some benchmarks along the way to give you and your team something to celebrate. Learning to enjoy the ride—and celebrate successes both large and small—can help you live in an attitude of gratitude.

Benefits of Acknowledging Your Successes

When you take the time to celebrate, you increase your positive neural pathways in your brain. This helps increase your motivation and helps you develop a positive attitude. It reinforces your desired behaviors and makes it more likely that you'll take massive action toward your goals. To celebrate, you have to take time to reflect back on your accomplishment, and that gives you time to review where you're at, what you got done, and where you want to go. You don't have to wait until you've reached the big goal to celebrate; in fact, I suggest you set up mini celebrations and maxi celebrations. Remember, each small success is another step in the right direction.

Celebrate the Small Steps

While writing this book, I set word counts on my calendar that I wanted to achieve. Next to it, I would put some type of reward. When I got done with the outline and submitted the book to Wiley, ...

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