January 2007

The Power of a Good Celebration                                   January 2007

I love the New Year. I enjoy the optimism that comes with renewed resolutions. I enjoy the sense of new beginnings and the opportunity to start fresh. And I enjoy the celebration that comes with bringing in the New Year.

For some, a New Year’s celebration is serious business. They plan elaborate parties, wear silly hats, swing goofy noise makers while jumping up and down like a third grader who just got extended recess. And that’s just at my house.

New Year’s Eve is the biggest night of the year in Las Vegas, and a gazillion people gather in Times Square to watch Dick Clark countdown the dropping of a giant ball. It’s huge. At midnight the phones start ringing, with family and friends wishing each other great success in the New Year while aimlessly searching for someone to kiss to bring in the New Year.

Oh, the power of a good celebration! I love the way we celebrate the New Year. Heck, we stay up way past our bedtime, and raise a glass to celebrate something we had nothing to do with! The fact we celebrate in such a huge way for the New Year doesn’t amaze me that much. What amazes me is that the same people who plan this grand celebration are the same ones who can’t make the time to celebrate real victories in their personal or professional life throughout the year.

You see, I’m a firm believer we don’t do enough celebrating. In fact, I believe if we are going to celebrate something we have nothing to do with, then we should celebrate like there’s no tomorrow when we do things in our personal and professional life that deserve a great celebration!

There are many ways to celebrate your successes, and I encourage you to find a method and stick with it. For those who don’t celebrate much, I offer the following suggestions to get you started in 2007:

Prepare for a celebration

If we can open a bottle of champagne to celebrate something we had nothing to do with, we can certainly open a bottle for a real accomplishment. So here’s my challenge to you. To prepare for the celebrations to come, go to your local grocery store, buy a few bottles of cheap champagne and put them in your refrigerator (if you don’t drink alcohol, get yourself some non-alcoholic champagne). When you experience your next victory this year, pop open a bottle of bubbly and celebrate your success.

Celebrate the small stuff

“I’d celebrate somethin’ if there was somethin’ worth celebrating!” Those were the words shared with me by an audience member earlier this month when I spoke on our need to celebrate. I took the opportunity to determine why this person didn’t think there was anything worth celebrating, and learned she thought it had to be something big. The great thing about celebration is we can celebrate anything, regardless of how small it is. In fact, I believe that once you start celebrating the small stuff, you’ll find more of it to celebrate. Don’t wait around for something big to happen. Look for the small stuff.

Allocate time to celebrate

Friday night is Date Night. If I’m not traveling, my wife and I make it a point to have a designated night to spend together. In addition to spending time talking and enjoying each other’s company, we take time to identify things to celebrate. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the insanity of the world and miss the small things worth celebrating. We try to celebrate the small stuff when it happens, but if we miss it, we raise a glass on Date Night. Find a time on your calendar each week to find the things in your life worth celebrating.

Enthusiastically, 

Clint Swindall - President & CEO

*Book Review

You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader, by Mark Sanborn

Here's what I've been reading lately ...

Everyday Leadership was first created to provide leadership guidance in the personal and professional lives of our readers. The Verbalocity database includes people from all walks of life; from corporate CEOs to stay-at-home moms. While the leadership strategies may be different for people in different organizations (and at different levels), the leadership skills needed to make a positive difference in the world are the same for all of us.

Whether you are the CEO of a giant corporation or the CEO of your household, you can make a positive difference in the world. My colleague Mark Sanborn, author of the national bestseller The Fred Factor, shows how we all can be a leader in our daily lives in his new book, You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader.

Too often we look at our own title to determine the level of influence we have in the world. In this book, the author points out that leadership isn't always left up to those with a title, and that people who lead strive to make things better for those around them. They increase what he calls ROI (Relationships, Outcomes and Improvements) through six principle- based skills everyone who wishes to lead must master.

*Newsletter Archives

Next month Everyday Leadership will celebrate its one-year anniversary. Throughout 2006, the database doubled in size. If you joined us in the middle of the year and would like to see previous editions of Everyday Leadership, you can find every edition in the Newsletter Archive at the Verbalocity website.

* Raise a Glass

A reason to celebrate

We practice what we preach, and constantly look for things to celebrate. This month, we're celebrating the fact Clint finished the Engaged Leadership manuscript at the end of 2006. For those who don't know, this is Clint's first book on leadership, and is being published by John Wiley & Sons. It is in the editing phase now, and is scheduled for release this June! We'll keep you updated.

*Tell Me Somethin' Good!

about Celebrating

This month we're asking readers to submit stories related to the theme of celebration. We have gotten some wonderful stories in the past in our Tell Me Somethin' Good! segment, and encouage you to submit your best story related to how celebration has had a significant impact in your life. If you have a short story you'd like to share, send it to us at enews@verbalocity.com.

*Quotes

Inspirational thoughts

“Celebrate what you want to see more of."
- Thomas J. Peters

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey."
- Barbara Hoffman“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living."
- Amanda Bradley

*Question to Ponder

Some time to think

I asked a buddy the other day if he’d talked to a mutual friend of ours lately. He responded by saying, “I called him a few months ago, and I never heard back. I’m not calling him again. It’s his turn!”

Turn? Since when do friends take turns? I call people and occasionally get disappointed when I don’t hear back. And I’m sure I’ve let some return calls fall through the cracks because of the insanity of keeping up with the world. But friends shouldn’t take turns. Life is too short to lose communication with someone because we won’t call them again because it’s not our “turn”.