Celebrating success for improvement

- One man told me of how his brother made an exceptional sale for his business. The man asked his brother what are you going to do to celebrate it? And this business owner said well, there's lots to do, I need to get back to work so, nothing I guess. While this may seem like the business owner is hard working, he's actually short changing his success. This is an interesting phenomenon that I discovered as I was researching studies for my book, "The Power of Having Fun".

One study from the University of Washington found that mice, when deprived of the naturally occurring motivation chemical dopamine, took significantly longer to perform a simple task. The more they persisted in that task, without dopamine, the worse their times got. On the other hand, mice that had a little pick me up of dopamine at any point in the process cut their performance time roughly in half.

Now, we're not mice yet some of us are treating ourselves like a rodent in a maze, doomed to repeat the same experience over and over with no joy in sight. Instead you can choose to inject a little fun and a little celebration into your daily performance. And if you have responsibility for managing and leading other people, it's even more critical that you pause and allow them to celebrate their successes when they occur.

How do we go about doing that? First, whenever something positive happens, stop. Imagine a big stop sign in your mind that says we need to take a look at this. Second, use your mind to intellectually acknowledge that something positive occurred. All you need to do is think something like, that was great that we just completed that big project, or whatever your success is. Next, ask yourself the question, what level of celebration is appropriate for this success? Now, if I got positive feedback from a customer, maybe a high five or a good job is all the celebration we need.

But, if our team received a public award for outstanding customer service then that would be a completely different level of celebration. There's an element of subjectivity but the point is that you're taking the time to consider what is appropriate. And finally, celebrate. Take action and do something enjoyable. It may take a little time from your day depending on the level of celebration, but in the long run enjoying these positive moments will help you and your coworkers be more productive.

Remember, when you have success and celebrate and acknowledge that success, you're injecting positive chemicals into your body that reinforce your desire to have even greater success. Take the time to celebrate and you will find that success comes more easily to you and those around you.