Little Celebrations Help Us Stay the Course

I’m learning a lot about public schools since my daughter started kindergarten. Little celebrations pepper the calendar keeping students motivated, like this week’s 100-Day Celebration. At first I thought it was a history thing; then I realized they were celebrating the first 100 days this school year. Each student was to prepare a project that reflected on their learning accomplishments thus far. It was an assessment, but also a confidence builder for them. My daughter’s project consisted of designing a picture using items grouped in tens. We selected stickers and carefully placed them on poster board in a playground motif. When my daughter was finished, we counted ten groups of ten, totaling 100 stickers. She presented her picture to her class on 100-Day, very proud of how far she had come since her first day of kindergarten. For me, it was a great way to see her progress and praise her efforts beyond the standard report card. (As a proud mom, I couldn’t help but illustrate this post with her project!)

So, why don’t we celebrate 100 days in the working world? The first 100 days of 2015 falls on Friday, April 10th. Let’s mark April 10th on our calendar as a day to celebrate our accomplishments during the first 100 days of 2015. Check the goals you set back in January. Take the day off for some self-renewal. The weather will hopefully be nice, so find a patio for lunch and let your coworkers know how much you appreciate them. Find a way to celebrate the first 100 days of 2015. Let this be a confidence boost for the next 100 days, the next deadline, the next issue of your publication, or the next project. Enjoy these little celebrations and use them as a motivator to stay the course this year.

— Chellie Thompson, Cofounder, Monarch Media & Consulting, Inc.