I have a confession to make: I am lousy at celebrating accomplishments.
If you've ever been on a team that I've lead (or happen to be a member of my family) you will recognize this as absolute truth.
I'm a goal setter; a high-achiever. I'm driven for victory, purpose-driven and I'm able to drive others mad. I accomplish a lot but often fail when it comes to taking time to recognize the value of an achievement and to celebrate it. Typically, while others are high-fiving in the background and saying "job well done" I'm already looking ahead to the next task that needs to be tackled or analyizing the results to see how we could do even better the next time around.
I value the way God wired me. I know it was intentional and there is a reason that I am the way I am. But I also recognize that in order to be an effective leader, I need to be able to pause and celebrate. Even God Himself stepped back from His creation and celebrated what He had done; "...God saw that it was good."
I am reminded of this today because I stumbled across a list of goals that I set for myself at the start of 2009; posted right here on this blog. I realized that while I'd set the goals, and made them public, I'd never actually reviewed them at the end of the year; much less take time to celebrate any which had been accomplished.
Here's the list of goals for 2009 - with a note on where I finished:
1. Finish recording and release With the Breath in My Lungs - DONE - you can buy it here!
2. Get out of debt (except the mortgage) - NOPE, close but no cigar.
3. Transfer all my family mini DV cassettes to DVDs - NOPE
4. Lose 10 pounds - DONE - Actually lost 28 lbs and have kept it off!
5. Read 24 books - NOPE, only 7.
6. Learn to use my digital SLR camera better - NOPE. Actually, my Maxxum 7D died making this one impossible.
7. Take tennis lessons - NOPE, but after losing 28 lbs my game improved exponentially.
8. Get a new Macbook - SORT OF...bought an iMac instead.