Celebrate Accomplishments

Have you been working with a young person toward accomplishing a goal? That’s really exciting! Let’s talk about how best to celebrate their progress. 

Here are a few tips for recognition of progress toward youth directed goals:

• Try not to compare your young person’s outcome with anyone else’s outcome. Their success should only be measured by their own efforts toward improvement.
• Remember, progress is the goal, not perfection! Celebrate consistency and hard work.
• Make the recognition private and personal instead of elaborate and showy.
• Don’t make rewards contingent on a certain level of success. Making a big deal only if there is a certain successful outcome is not as meaningful as encouraging hard work, determination and focus on progress.
• Make the recognition concrete and in the moment. Delaying the celebration makes it less meaningful.

To learn more about the health benefit of celebrating positive outcomes whenever they occur, read this article!