In December 2018 I did a brain dump of everything I wanted to accomplish in 2019. I wanted to enter a new year and decade feeling strong. That I had a handle on things moving forward and I had jettisoned everything that wasn’t working for me. That included dreams that were no longer servicing me. You know the dreams you hold on to because you’ve always had them. If I didn’t have a plan for them moving into a new decade I didn’t want to continue to carry them.
That said I wrote everything down. A few of them I broke into smaller actions and started my year. Move forward twelve months to December 2019. Over the holidays I reviewed my goals. I had crossed a few off, never accomplished a few and let go of others.
The thing was I concentdrated on what I didn’t get done in the past year. I felt like I had failed when I looked at my list. What I wasn’t taking into consideration were all the things I did do that weren’t on the list. All my wins. I was just focused on the negative. Or what I considered negative.
I have read that our default is negative (fight or flight) and I do believe that. It wasn’t until I started thinking about what I did in the past year that I realized I had wins. Lots of them were not on my brain dump. My trip with my sister, reconnecting with a work friend, finishing another round of edits on a novel, signing up for SHE Quest, doing an Instagram Challenge and being mentioned in the The tea chest as a blog to read.
I was so focused on what I didn’t accomplished I wasn’t celebrating my wins. When I changed how I looked at my year I realized it was great. Yeah, I didn’t accomplish everything on my list, but do we ever? Why is the default the negative? Why don’t we celebrate our wins?
So this new year and decade I am working on celebrating wins. Wins will be my default. No more I should have, could have….. Yes to acknowledging and learning from my mistakes. What can I take forward, let go of or do another way. Those are wins also. I am refocusing and changing. I’m looking at things in a positive light.
I started a “Win” page in my bullet journal a few years ago and realized I haven’t added to it. It just became another page in a book. So 2020 I’m celebrating wins. I’m going to focus on wins being my default not what I didn’t accomplish. If I’m continuing to work on something however slow that is a win as it is moving forward.
So let’s start a “Win” page in our journals or phones. WOW I did stuff and I’m continuing to do stuff. If you have a big project break it down into smaller pieces and celebrate wins along the way.
You can always start now!
You can always start now 
Excellent post and great ideas! I love being able to celebrate my wins!!
Wishing you all the best in this wonderful New Year!
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I think it is important. I was seriously thinking WHAT and disappointed in myself. Switch the thinking up
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Yes, I love this. Right–we never wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night thinking about our wins, only our failures. I do think it requires real work to change this natural mindset! I’m willing to try. And writing them down is a good idea too. Good for you. (Already a win, I think!)
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Thank you. I agree it will take work to switch that natural mode of thinking. I think we all have wins that we often shrug off and don’t celebrate as too focus on loses/negative. SO yeah we are taking this on!!
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Celebrating our wins big or small excellent way to live. I’m with you,,
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My Author friend and mentor told me “You must Celebrate the smaller wins, on the way to your goal.” They are still wins that others have not achieved but you have. Remember and celebrate how far you have traveled, not look at how far you have to go. Xxx good luck with your Wins.
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So true. Focus on what we can and have done. It is a mind set and something I’m working on. Thank you for being part of my wins!!
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Wow! This is so encouraging. It brought a smile on my face as I was reading through and remembering my wins. Thank you! 🙂
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Your welcome. Hope you are going to celebrate them!! Create a win page on phone or journal!
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I’m a firm believer that we should always look at the positives. Here’s to many wins in 2020!
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I agree. Create a page on phone or journal and capture them!
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I like this idea. I frequently focus on the negative and things I have failed on. I have just turned to the back page of my note book and written wins, 2020. Maybe 2020 will look more positive in 2021 then 2019 does now…
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Yes to celebrating your wins. I think it is a good idea to write them down so we can look back and go “oh yeah I did that. Completed that.” Sometimes we focus so much on the negative we can’t seem to pull our wins/positives. Get writing those wins in 2020.
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Fantastic! ♥️ So true to break up big projects into little pieces. I write daily small and big wins of the day before I go to bed as it is good for our brain. Thanks for sharing. xx
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That is a great practice. I should be doing that! Did start a “win” page in bullet journal but never kept it up.
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I love this idea. I have become caught up in all the things that I haven’t completed yet, that I have not given my self credit for all that I have done.
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I hope you are making a “win” list or page in a journal. Seriously we have no idea our wins until we see them in front of us Our “loses” we are quick to focus on.
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I will start. Yes. The loses always seem to take center court
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I am trying to do brain dump exercise this year as I know what are my worries and my wins. Yes when we set bigger goals, we forget to remark our progress and just look out the number.
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That is good doing your brain dump. Celebrate your wins!
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Thank you for sharing your post at B.O.S.S. and yes we should not dwell on the negative but be positive, and concentrate on what we have achieved and build on that day by day. Stuff happens and we are not in control of everything that cross our path but by looking at the positive and celebrating our wins will inspire us to go further than being negative.
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I am definitely a work in progress on this! B.O.S.S. such a great idea. You rock at supporting us
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I am right there with you! Lol
I need to practice this as well. I tend to be pretty hard on myself. Always have. I need to relish the victories. At least for a little bit. Thanks for sharing this!
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YES! Celebrate your wins along the way to a larger project. That is why breaking down huge projects is needed. We can celebrate smaller wins. Do it!!!
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Such a great blog post idea! Celebrating wins, staying positive and focusing on your accomplishments are all so important for personal growth.
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This will be a work in progress for me. Taking a breath and not falling back into old ways of thinking. Creating new and better habits! We can do this!!
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Why do we default to the negative? Interesting question, and so true. I love this idea of focusing on the positive, what we accomplished rather than what we did not. I’m going to go for it. Thanks for the inspiration.
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I am a work in progress over it but yes to celebrating our wins not focusing on the loses (which happen as part of life). Thanks for visiting.
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I love the idea of a win journal! How is it going? I’ve found that my gratitude journal, where I list 5 things I’m thankful for every night, has come in handy especially during this never ending lockdown.
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Currently have a win page in my bullet journal. I also started a win jar a few years ago and put my scary wins in. Things I did that really pushed my boundaries. We are not currently in lockdown. We have mandatory masking in public which we have done for a few months now. Take care and be safe. Thank you for visiting.
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Great motivation!!! Thank you for sharing!
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Thanks for reminding us again to celebrate, despite the size of our wins. I have a win to share. Over the past week, I took the leap and started a YouTube channel for EsmeSalon and I am having so much fun.
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That is such a win. Already subscribed and it is great. Love how the videos are presented and music nice touch.
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I hope that list grows exponentially long in your diary after just one week. I don’t think you’re alone in focusing on the things you haven’t done and missing the things you have – celebrating small wins can make us realise that we actually have done a lot and have a lot to be proud for, we’re often just too busy berating ourselves to realise. Even the teeniest, tiniest of wins count. Fab post!
Caz xx
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Yes to celebrating tiny wins and stopping to give ourselves a reality check that we have had wins. Especially important this year when the world is upside down. I’m celebrating things I wouldn’t have tried or done if not for a pandemic. Maybe that should be a blog post we all do celebrating our wins during COVID19!! Take care.
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