encouragement | Journey

The Importance of Celebrating Small Victories

Big, audacious goals are important. Most companies put extensive research and strategy into setting annual goals that will guide their workforces throughout the year and serve as the finish line looming on the horizon. And when those goals are achieved, a celebration often follows to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication.

But, just as important as the big celebration at the end of a hard fought battle to achieve a major goal is celebrating the small victories along the way. This is especially true for the job search. Even the most dedicated job searchers can burnout when the going gets tough, so reveling in minor milestones that push the job hunt toward completion helps maintain engagement and gives a motivational boost.

According to research conducted by Harvard Business School featured in the Harvard Business Review:

“Even ordinary, incremental progress can increase people’s engagement in the work and their happiness during the workday. Across all types of events, our participants reported that a notable proportion (28%) of incidents that had a minor impact on the project had a major impact on people’s feelings about it. Because inner work life has such a potent effect on creativity and productivity, and because small but consistent steps forward, shared by many people, can accumulate into excellent execution, progress events that often go unnoticed are critical to the overall performance of organizations.”

So, what are the key benefits of celebrating small victories on the path toward achieving major goals?

Showing progress: The best set goals outline a clear path toward success with measurable tasks or achievements along the way that show you are progressing in the right direction. It’s easier to avoid job search burnout when there’s always a tangible milestone within reach.
Building commitment: When working toward finding a job, it’s important to have full commitment from yourself and even other job searchers. If you connect with others in your position, you can congratulate and push each other on the way to a job. Celebrating small victories along the way helps everyone feel united and personally invested in encouraging each other to reach the next stage.
Allowing opportunities to “fine tune” along the way: Small victories are also beneficial when you don’t achieve them right away. If you find progress has stalled and that next milestone becomes harder and harder to reach, you have an early opportunity to assess the situation and make necessary adjustments to get the job search back on track.

Make it meaningful
Although there is no shortage of ways to celebrate small victories, the most important factor is to ensure the celebration is meaningful. That doesn’t mean you have to roll out the red carpet and strike up the band for every little accomplishment, but you do want to feel the hard work you’ve put in so far is worthwhile. From eating a fun snack or getting together with fellow job searchers to share the accomplishments that you personally consider small victories, the important thing is to truly celebrate what you’ve done. The job search is hard. Each resume sent, each interview had, each networking event attended—they all matter.

Did you know that the first Friday in March was National Employee Appreciation Day? There may be several people with employers who took the special holiday to focus on employee appreciation. But, there are probably just as many, if not more, who never even knew the day existed.

The workplace can feel like a thankless place at times with shortening deadlines and increasing stress levels. So, what do you do the other 364 days of the year when it’s not Employee Appreciation Day? Here are some things you can do to feel a little more gratitude from co-workers and managers at a hectic workplace.

Appreciate Others
Many times, our interactions with other people can be boiled down to the famous line from the Beatles song “The End” that says, “And in the end, the love you take
is equal to the love you make.”

Basically, if you want to feel appreciated, try showing gratitude and giving out compliments to others. It might feel weird and out of place, but if you can influence your work culture with positive words, the appreciation will come back to you. Besides, doesn’t it feel good to make others feel good, too?

Take a Compliment
While complimenting and encouraging others is a great start to creating an environment of appreciation, you’re going to need to leave a little bit of modesty at the door. That means, you’ll need to be able to accept the compliments as much as you give them.

If you shrug off or deflect honest gratitude toward yourself, you could be discouraging others from showing their appreciation. If you just reply with “Just doing my job” or “It was nothing” you’re not giving co-workers or managers a reason to repeat the same gestures.

Toot Your Own Horn
If you want to talk to your manager about their lack of appreciation for your work, you might not get the results you are looking for with a negative attitude of, “I don’t feel appreciated for what I do.” Instead, create a positive environment by finding ways of making your boss aware of your accomplishments. Find clever ways of promoting yourself that aren’t blatantly directed toward yourself.

Focus on your accomplishments that have directly benefited your employer. What did you do to bring in more customers or clients? Did you do something that positively affected the company’s bottom line?

Respect the Routine
Sometimes you feel like there aren’t opportunities to demonstrate your good works when doing your job is business as usual. There might not be a negative standard to compare your greatness to. You don’t have to reinvent your place or role in the grand scheme of work, but little things like maintaining a positive attitude can quickly gain the attention of your co-workers and managers. They will know when you gave your workday 100% and will begin to wonder what your secret is.

Just because your employer may have skipped out on Employee Appreciation Day doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reward yourself. If you follow these guidelines, you can take pride in knowing that a job done well doesn’t go unnoticed.

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