“We don’t celebrate our wins here”

I’ve heard multiple executives utter that idea (once on my own team). “We don’t celebrate our wins here.” Ostensibly, we’re so driven (hashtag hustle, hashtag every day) that we don’t want to stop and celebrate. We can’t weaken our staff with this notion that they did a good job.

Ridiculous. This is wrong for two reasons:

1) It’s plain old the right thing to do to celebrate wins. We’re gonna die someday. Celebrate the good stuff, and lift up those around you. Gratitude is the simplest path to happiness. (It’s science.)

We aren’t long for this world. Stop to celebrate. Those moments are cause for reflection, community and camaraderie, and joy. Cherish them.

2) The second reason it’d be wrong to never celebrate wins relates to the exact reason some executives dislike doing so: the need to stay hungry and keep driving forward.

Hypothetically, let’s say you don’t care about number 1 above. You just want everyone to keep hashtag hustling hashtag every day hashtag to the face. Well, if that’s you, and I truly can’t make number 1 a compelling reason, maybe you’ll listen to this: celebrating wins increases the likelihood of future wins.

When we are rewarded (especially if it’s something called variable reward, i.e. unexpected, intermittent delivery of a reward, not an anticipated and advertised prize), our brains go, “Whoa, what was THAT? I want more, please and thank you!” As a result, we busy ourselves trying to replicate that feeling, which means replicating whatever behavior triggered it.

In other words, when we point out the good, we end up doing the good more often.

Whether you believe in doing the right thing because it’s the right thing, or you just want people to keep driving forward and never grow complacent (or you want that same thing of yourself), it all points to the same action: celebrate your wins.

Proudly declaring you won’t is misguided … no matter which way you look at it.