It is January.

I hope you are feeling good about this new year.

I love the betwixt days just before the new year. It always feels like a reset time for me. So many people are not working and children and students are still at home. There are still visits (usually friends rather than duty calls) and still food but it feels like there is no pressure. Then comes the reality of this week – the second week of the new year – when life gets serious again. Every year it is different depending on how Christmas was, what the weather is like and what the new year holds. In my life there will be a wedding, a friend’s consecration as a bishop and a new baby and those are just the things I know about! I hope you also have nice things to which you can look forward.

So what am I thinking about?

Celebrations.

Yes, I hear you say but we have just had loads of those; don’t you know this is the grey and miserable time of year when the fun is all over? Well last week I met with Chloe, https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-bezer/one of my friends for whom 2025 was all about celebrations – a first class degree, a university award, and a place on a fantastic, very sought after NHS training scheme. It was a great year for her and we reflected on the delights she had enjoyed. We pondered these things which have been the result of plenty of hard work and commitment. We thought about how these achievements really speak to her because her GCSEs and A levels had all been estimated due to covid. For the first time she feels she has achieved something properly. Naturally that took us to how recognition will be different in future. It will not be quantitative but qualitative, it will be praise from bosses and colleagues, consequent promotion and increasingly serious and difficult projects.

Now you know this because you are an experienced person. You have worked in this type of environment for a while. I am sure you practice praise with your children and deliberately notice when they achieve something however small. Often it is these very small things that are the most difficult. You know how massive it is when a child struggles to her feet for the first time and you know how important it is that when she falls down with your encouragement she gets up again.

Now I hope that you notice at work when a person on your team or a colleague does something like this and you give a simple “well done”. I often talk with my clients about the difference between cantering in your role and operating at a gallop. Our expectations should be about the normal things anyone should achieve in their role and when the situation is extra tough they pull out the mighty gallop that will win a race. Winning that race whatever it was: stunning customer service, an amazing sale, a delivery made against all the odds or unexpected levels of profitability; all these deserve special recognition. They are beyond normal performance.

As I say I am assuming you do this. In my management training I remember a wise mentor advising me to take half an hour on a Friday afternoon to find people to praise for things they had done that week. Remind yourself of the good things and send someone home with something nice to tell their family and renewed motivation for next week.

However this is most definitely not all of the story. Do you notice when it is you that has done something amazing? Something that maybe only you can see? Maybe it was something you understand that you have been putting off; or something that was frightening you or you were dreading. It is likely to be something only you can possibly know about. A recent example for me was that after a difficult year, in those unpressurised betwixt days I made the effort to complete all the outstanding 2025 work. I felt wonderful. The high was incredible but not something that would be noticed by anyone else. So stop and recognise your own performance. I suggest you think of something at the end of every day which was an achievement however small. It then becomes part of the foundation to build on tomorrow.

However there is another step to this. How do you celebrate these achievements? I hope you do a dance or have a special cup of tea or eat an avocado or something. My fear is that you might not have a celebratory behaviour. And your achievement slips by, is neglected or worse, never noticed. Now my clients are going to know what is coming next. I ring a bell. If they have done something wonderful I ring the bell loudly! It must work. A very senior woman who had just told me something wonderful that she had achieved demanded I ring the bell! A client telling me about her year end results that exceeded expectations in an email said “bell ringing please!”

So in 2026 please notice and celebrate yourself as well as those around you. If you find this difficult please contact me. We can find ways for you to review your behaviour which recognises what you do well, celebrate it and then encourage you to do it again. I love speaking with people so why not have an off the meter conversation with me on a one to one basis? I want to meet you. We might want to work together in this exciting business world we both inhabit or we might not but just to meet each other would be good and if I can help you explore possibilities for making your aspirations a reality that would be great.

So in 2026 let’s celebrate!