How often do you celebrate your successes?
Chances are… not enough.
We feel more comfortable running ourselves over with a mental garbage truck than tooting our own horn. In our garbage truck, we carry all our mistakes, mess-ups, and failures we have collected through the years.
For some reason, we define ourselves by our finest F%$# -Ups and we will wow you with stories of how we have failed, even if you don’t ask.
What purpose does recalling your mistakes make? If you can give me one good reason, I will excuse you from reading the rest of this article.
Alrighty then, read on.
Reciting or memorizing a litany of mistakes serves no purpose.
Take me, for example… I can give you an entire laundry list of my mistakes and deficiencies:
· I’m not good at ironing shirts (I tend to iron in wrinkles.)
· For the life of me, I cannot peel a hardboiled egg.
· It took me seven and a half years to earn my bachelor’s degree. Most people who go to school that long are called doctors.
· I can only hit a tennis ball into a net or over a fence. The space in between is my nemesis.
· I failed my permit test twice, my driver’s test once and my motorcycle license once.
· I have no sense of direction. So please GPS stop using words like north, south, east, or west.
Now that I stated all that shit, I feel like, well, shit.
Conversely, when I think of my successes, abilities, and positive qualities, I feel like a stud.
· I am very good at carpentry, especially wood working.
· I can build musical instruments from objects most people throw away.
· I’m a talented writer (keep your judgments reserved for yourself).
· I am a great dad.
· I’m ha-ha funny.
· I always help others in need.
TOOT TOOT! Holy Cow, do I feel good!
It’s time for you to start tooting your own horn.
You lost five pounds… Awesome!
You are a great dad, mom, son, daughter, uncle, aunt… Kudos to you!
You are really good at coloring inside the lines… Amazing!
You are really great at coloring outside the lines… Still amazing!
You have a special talent for art… TOOT TOOT!
You learned to play the harmonica… Way to go!
You can juggle fire… Stay away from my house but that’s great!
You can juggle your schedule… Managing your time is a tremendous skill!
You are kind and caring… TOOT TOOT!
You are thrifty and spend your money wisely… Woo-hoo!
You won teacher of the month… Nice Job!
You are an empathetic listener… Good for you!
You made your high school debate team… Hot Damn!
You are a phenomenal bowler, accountant, investor, crane operator, salesman, triathlete, cabinet maker, custom service representative, gardener, storyteller, mechanic, DIYer, ping pong player, etc… TOOT-TOOT!
Walk away from your garbage truck filled with mistakes and hop into your super-charged success race car.
When you celebrate your successes and keep them in the forefront of your mind, your self-esteem, self-image, and self-confidence levels will runneth over.
You finished the article… TOOT TOOT!