I'm in the South of France this week for my friend Kate’s 70th birthday. And I have to say, any sentence that starts off with “I’m in the South of France this week” is a good sentence in my book! When Kate was 65 she was diagnosed with cancer and things didn’t look that great. She said that if she made it to 70 she was going to celebrate in the South of France, and everyone was invited.
Fast-forward five years, Kate is in remission, and here we are. She invited 60 people expecting 30 to come. 67 made the trip - not a bad conversion rate – and we all shared a spectacular birthday lunch on Monday.
I reckon planning celebrations is something we don't do enough of, particularly in business.
In Thought Leaders Business School (and in pretty much everything else I do) we plan around 90-day blocks. Each participant identifies their three key goals for the next quarter (often around thinking, selling and delivering).
On the tool we use to capture those goals there is also a space to plan the celebration or reward at the end of the 90-days.
I think that this is important because it’s very easy to either get caught up in what didn’t happen, or to jump straight into the next thing. Planning a reward or a celebration makes us stop and celebrate what actually did get achieved.
Love to hear your thoughts – how do you plan your celebrations? You can leave them below.
