If you’ve dropped into one of my co-working sessions, the somewhat rumpled, star-shaped Post-It note in the photo above will look familiar.
During On Fridays, We Write, we complete three 45-minute working sprints. At the end of each one, everybody gets a gold star for their work. Just like we used to get as kids.
Yep, I literally hold the Post-It up to the camera and say to each and every co-worker, “gold star for you!” My husband has heard the phrase so often in the year-plus he’s been working from home that he said it to me when I emptied the dishwasher!
Why gold stars? Because we are wired to focus on all the stuff there is to do and all the lingering stuff we “said” we’d do without spending even a second acknowledging what does get done.
We need these pauses for celebration. We need these little “attaboys.” We need what one of my business coaches would refer to as the “dopamine snack” that comes with completion.
And in case that sounds like something someone like me or a business coach would make up, consider this (also, I love you because you’re cynical):
“It’s possible to manipulate your dopamine levels by setting small goals and then accomplishing them.”
Ralph Ryback, M.D., The Science of Accomplishing Your Goals in Psychology Today.
Acknowledgment makes a difference for me. It keeps me going when I’ve brain-dumped the roughly one million To Dos swirling in my head. “Gold star for me for getting that sh*t out of my head where it was competing for my attention.”
It’s great for those sloggy days when the emails won’t.stop.coming.in. “Gold star for me, I handled 10 emails today!”
Pro Tip: Don’t water down the accomplishment by putting some lame qualifier into the mix, e.g. “Gold star for me, I handled 10 of my emails today…only 50,000 more to go!”
Sure, it can feel silly to celebrate the small stuff, but who cares? We’ve all been doing so much under sometimes grueling circumstances for months. We deserve a little silly.
We most definitely deserve gold stars.
By the way, you are always welcome to experience the joy of getting a gold star live during On Fridays, We Write. June registration is open right now, or you can do a test drive any Friday this month.
“Well Said Wednesday” is a blog by Barbara Govednik, Founder, Content Coach & Message Strategist of 4.23 Communication. It’s published every other Wednesday…ish.