EVERY MILESTONE MATTERS - Brittlestar’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue #18
Remember sleeping in on Sundays? Nah, me neither. Though this time of year it might actually be nice enough to have your morning coffee outside. That’s pretty great. Secure your jammies for the sake of the neighbours.
EVERY MILESTONE MATTERS
Shannon and I met while working at the Hotel Belvedere in Kingston, Ontario. It’s a wonderful spot. The owners, Donna and Ian, took care of their mostly early 20-somethings staff like parents and mentors.
One of the things that Donna and Ian did very well (amongst many others) was celebrate milestones and little victories. It didn’t matter what it was specifically or how big it was, there was always a bottle of champagne in the fridge at the ready. In case an emergency raising of the glasses was in order.
I learned a tremendous amount from Donna and Ian. My favourite lesson being that it is entirely possible to not recognize your ex-spouse if it’s been long enough (which actually happened to both of them with their respective but apparently entirely forgettable exes).
However, the celebrating milestones and little victories really stuck with me and Shannon.
We haven’t always been able to afford to have a bottle of champagne at the ready. Sometimes it’s been cava, sometimes prosecco, sometimes we paid the gas bill… but we’ve always been ready to celebrate the seemingly small things.
When we had our first business we celebrated our first client, our first 100 clients and our first 1000 clients.
When I had a song reach the Top 40 in Luxembourg (stop laughing, I’m a legend to those people), we celebrated.
When we ran out money and then were able to find a way to not lose our house and keep going, we celebrated (that was a pay the gas bill/sparkling water toast).
We celebrated when I sold my short story to become a TV series.
We celebrated when we got our first doses of the vaccine.
Whether we’ve succeeded or just survived, we’ve celebrated.
Any event or moment that marks a point in time that we have crossed successfully, gets a celebration… and it is incredibly motivating.
It’s a bit like when our kids would get their height marked on the kitchen door by my Mom. You get to see just far you’ve come.
Life is often not very easy… for lots of reasons.
Every little victory deserves a little celebration. Take the time to pause, reflect, pat yourself on the back and start working towards the next one.
Cheers 🥂
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I have one pose and it's this. Beverages may change but this is it.