Failure To Celebrate

My ongoing struggles with celebrating success

In 2008, a book that I co-wrote was published with a chapter about how celebrating success should be a vital part of any entrepreneurs regular practice. In subsequent years I developed a talk, which I’ve given to wide praise to packed rooms, on why celebrating success can actually have a positive impact on the bottom line of an entrepreneurs business.

However, 13 years and counting into my own journey as a successful entrepreneur, I suck at acknowledging my own successes. Hard.

That’s not to say that I’m not successful. If I sit down and look at it, I am. By all kinds of measurements. Could I be more successful? Sure. Do I strive for bigger impacts, wilder dreams realized and more goals attained? Of course. I’m an entrepreneur, if I didn’t I’d be in trouble.

No, what I suck at is not achieving. I am resolutely terrible at celebrating.

Why is this?

Social Media has become everyone’s personal PR machine. Announcing achievements publicly is easier than than ever. So why don’t I make better use of it?

Over my years of working with other entrepreneurs I’ve come to suspect that we’re a bunch of folks that can be uniquely challenged in this arena as a result of the very same skills that make us great at what we do. Entrepreneurs are after all doers. Achievers. Always looking for the next hurdle to clear, the next challenge to face. As a result we have short attention spans for even our own achievements, as we tick off accomplishments on our endlessly scrolling to do lists and move right on to the next thing.

And, because I do tend to apply a gender lens to most things, but in particular to issues impacting women entrepreneurs, I feel the need to acknowledge that this challenge does seem to disproportionately impact women over men. Not without exception, but as a general rule.

So what to do about it? Lately I’ve just been naming it. Acknowledging a recent major achievement, as well as my own hesitation to publicly celebrate it, recently on social media generated great discussion and feedback that made me feel more comfortable about making a semi-regular habit of tooting my own horn. I’ve also been making a conscious habit of supporting colleagues when I see them acknowledging victories (big and small) publicly to help create a culture of shared success.