“Women are often given less credit for successful outcomes and blamed more for failures. And when we celebrate our accomplishments, we are often penalised for self-promotion. As a result, women’s contributions can go unnoticed. When women celebrate one another’s accomplishments, we’re all lifted up. ” Sheryl Sandberg People Magazine
Words: Griselda Togobo; Image: Suzy Mitchell
You’ve worked so hard for a promotion, new business or contract and finally, you get it.
You want to scream, dance and shout it from the top of the mountains. Instead, you don’t.
You feel embarrassed when other congratulate you. You wish the ground would just open up and swallow you when you receive a compliment.
You tell yourself, nobody cares about you or your achievements and most importantly you don’t want to be seen to be showing off! You want to be liked and loved by everyone and nobody likes a show off – especially when it’s a woman.
You are not alone.
We are all plagued and limited by these thoughts.
We are embarrassed (or at least we try to look like we are) by positive feedback and compliments because you’ve been taught that modesty and humility are beautiful attributes in a woman.
Can you really afford to still hold these beliefs in today’s hyper competitive work environment? Where your colleagues are all out to claim every success, opportunity as theirs –even those they were not involved in?
An environment where praise and recognition is in short supply but criticisms and feedback (mostly negative) is unlimited!
An environment where, as Sheryl Sandberg said, you are more likely to be blamed when things go wrong.
No – we can’t!
We need the celebration, affirmation and joy that comes when we celebrate success, receive praise and recognition.
It’s good for the soul. It will build you up and make you more resilience. It’ll inspire you to go after your goals more determined now that you know what success feels like.
Here are 3 good reasons to embracing your successes in business
- Time to reflect to see how far you’ve come. This is something we rarely do when you are down in the trenches. Head down just getting on with it. Reflecting on our goals and how far we’ve come helps us to redefine success in a meaning way. To check in to see if where we are headed is where we want to end up!
- Motivates you to keep going – you didn’t come this far only to come this far. Celebrations will motivate your team to double up their efforts -they are onto a winner!
- Learning about other people’s successes enables us to find ways that we can also improve, develop and achieve our dreams. A little encouragement and inspiration can go a long way.
We should all be celebrating our successes a lot more than we currently do. Go on – book that dinner, spa day, holiday, jewellery – you deserve it and you are worth it.
CLICK TO TWEET: “You can’t pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first!” @forwardladies @gktogobo
Stop worrying what other people think. Honestly, they are so consumed by themselves, their lives and their problems.
If not for yourself, then do it for your team!
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