March 2006

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Celebrating Success

What’s next for you? Is it more personal success? To each one of us success means something different. To some success is based totally on their financial portfolio. To others success constitutes balance between family, work and play. What does success mean to you?

Simple Childhood Joys

Consider the simple joys of childhood. Success for a small child is in their day-to-day accomplishments… and having them acknowledged. Some of these accomplishments are simple: “You are such a good girl! You ate all your dinner!” Also consider the absolute joy and jubilation when a child takes their first steps; what a magnificent milestone!

The magnitude of these accomplishments is at different ends of the spectrum, but both are worthy of being noticed and being acknowledged. Praise is exciting for a child, helping them to build their confidence and self-esteem, and it encourages them to repeat their behavior. In addition, taking the time to verbally praise and celebrate the child’s accomplishments also embeds how well they are doing at a deeper level in your own brain. It’s a win/win situation for everybody.

Acknowledging Achievements

As your team helps you effectively run your daily operations, be sure to acknowledge each individual at every opportunity. Celebrate each victory however small it may be. Not only will it help to build and maintain a high level of morale in the office, it will also encourage the same behavior to be repeated.

In addition to acknowledging others accomplishments, it’s also important to take the time to stop and notice all the abundance and success we have in our own lives. At the end of the year, I always review the highlights of the last year, noting achievements, people who have made a difference in my life and things I am thankful for. Although there is definite benefit in noting the highlights at year end, it’s also important to be aware of these accomplishments every single day – and to celebrate them! Even if that celebration is merely awareness and a warm feeling in your heart, it is still valuable. The more you celebrate each victory the more compelling it will be to strive to create even more greatness – both in yourself and others.

Tracking Your Results

Tracking your results is a great way to increase your level of success. Do you keep accurate records of your time off, your annual income, your net worth, and other indicators that are important to you? Even if the results are less than you were hoping for, at least you know the facts. And, remember to celebrate whenever there’s even a slight reason!

Beware of Addiction to Success

Highly motivated individuals are at times over achievers, they see what needs to be done, and do whatever it takes to get it done. Business owners often fall into this category. When we have people working with us that fall into this category, it can be easy to overload these super stars. The problem is, if not careful, these individuals, as well as ourselves, may at some point experience burnout. Be careful to not overload your work schedule or the schedule of people that work for you.

Another problem highly motivated people may encounter is experiencing the ‘high’ of success almost like that of an addictive drug, where one is always in quest of the next big fix. People caught in this scenario find the buzz, the excitement, wears off quicker. They notice and acknowledge their wins less and less until they are barely even aware that something of significance even happened.

Your Personal Meaning of Success

Gain clarity on what success means to you, and then don’t allow yourself to get caught up in just one aspect of success, investing all of your time and energy in that specific area. Financial success is a very tangible and measurable aspect that people can easily understand, so it can be easy to measure our worth strictly in the financial arena. While it’s wonderful to have monetary success, it’s important to not have our financial portfolio as our only gauge. At the end of our lives, it will be the memories of people near and dear to our hearts that will have made our lives worthwhile.

Living in the Present

While having goals and objectives for the future helps you know what to do today, it’s even more important that we have our feet firmly planted in the present. This will help us make good things happen, recognize them when they do happen, and then celebrate them. While talking about the present and the future, we also need to address the past. Our past has provided us with a laboratory for learning; experiences we’ve personally had along with all the information we’ve learned from others throughout our life journey thus far. Some of our history is colored with beauty, and some of our past is fraught with despair. It’s important to learn what we can from our past, but we need to be willing to ‘let it go’, and live each day in the present, not allowing our past to dictate our future.

The Ladder of Success

The proverbial ‘ladder of success’ is an adage most of us are aware of. It speaks of sequential and incremental growth. While this is indeed the typical way a business grows, it can be restrictive. It’s valuable to also consider what Dan Kennedy refers to as ‘leaping’, which allows the possibility for exponential growth. One of the most effective ways I’ve seen to help an organization ‘leap’ is to work with a consultant or coach. Having an outside influence can greatly reduce the time and effort it takes you to maximize your success and realize your dreams.

Don’t consider the destination called SUCCESS to be like the land of OZ - that only exists in fairy tales. Success is good, and it is attainable. In fact, you need only recognize and be grateful for all you have in your life right this very moment, and you will recognize all the success you have already achieved. Now, all you need to do is celebrate!

Points to Ponder:

• What does success mean to you? Be sure to consider all the different areas of your life.
  
  
• Determine what you want your success story to say, and then write (live) it accordingly.
  
  
• Take the time to acknowledge and celebrate each victory, however small. It will help you recognize and be grateful for the immense success you already have in your life!
  
  

About the Author

CoraMarie Clark, MBA BSDH is recognized as a highly effective dental practice strategist. She works with dentists that want to optimize their potential both personally and professionally. Her collaborative approach has helped teams develop dynamic competitive strategies and achieve high impact sustainable results.

If you would like to explore the possibility of having CoraMarie work with your Dental Practice or speak for your Association or Group, contact us today.

CoraMarie Clark
phone 403.686.6136
email coramarie@strategix-ltd.com
web strategix-ltd.com

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