How to Truly Celebrate Business Success

Kris Plachy: Do you celebrate your wins, lovely lady that you are? Or do you just blow right past them and go on to the next one? Let's talk about it. Welcome back to the Leadership is Feminine Podcast. I'm your host, Kris Plachy, thank you for being here.

As we march into January 22, I'm thinking a lot about you, and what I'm pretty confident you're doing right now. You're working on your plans, you're thinking about what you want to create in the new year, what you want to eliminate, what you want to celebrate, what you want to let go off, what you want to increase; all the words I know you all are using, I think they're all beautiful, I think you should do all of them. Whatever it is that makes you happy and joy filled, do those things. We know that great things come to us through feeling, and so as you are stepping into this New Year, I really want to keep inviting you to think about what feels good.

Okay, so I introduced this podcast by talking about your wins, your celebrations, your successes, and I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about on this podcast that are little exercises you can do. I appreciate not all of you listening will be a client, but you do like the things that I share with you and you take them and you do them. I got a text actually, from a friend of mine who I haven't seen in years, and she sent me a text over the weekend and said, "Oh my Gosh, I just listened to your Vision Board Podcast, my girlfriend and I are doing that this weekend. Thank you so much. I love it." I appreciate that there's a lot of you out here, listening who, for various reasons, we won't work together personally. But I do want to make sure I give you things that you can use and be helpful for you in your business and in the work and the life that you lead.

So the first thing I want to talk to you about sort of came tumbling into my lap, I was actually talking to Michelle, my amazing director of office about what could I talk about on this podcast, we were talking about celebrating successes and all those things. And it kind of hit me that we just had a huge success of my business in December; we celebrated the highest revenue we've ever achieved in a month and a year. And I realized, as that celebration was happening, I didn't feel celebratory, I didn't feel excited, and I'm like, "What is this about?" And the truth is, when I'm honest with myself, I don't think I do that a lot.

I think that I am so future focused, that I embody the future well in advance of it arriving. And then when it arrives. I'm like, 'Yeah, okay, what's next?' And I think a lot of us are like that. And so I want to check in with you about how we can be better because celebrating that is what fosters more of it; really leaning into that feeling of pride, joy, accomplishment, wonder. You guys, it's just magic that as a person who walks this planet, whether you have a business or not, you create things with your mind.

Do you ever really think about that, like you could make a list; you could make a list of all the things I did this in my journal, all of them magical things that you created in your life. And I went through people experiences, stuff, material stuff and I made a list; everything from the beautiful hardwood floors that we got this year, or the remodeled kitchen that we made this year, or the car that I'm driving right now, or the friendships, the depth of friendship that I have with several women, right? The clients come on! The clients I get to work with, I honestly marvel, I'm like, this has to be magic. The girl like me gets to work with women like this. Come on, right? Like I'd love it; I just love it and I think you have to remember. So when I looked at this revenue, it felt almost out of body for me. And then I had to anchor it like no, Kris Plachy, the work that you and your team have done is what made that happen. So how about we celebrate that? How about we acknowledge that? How about we roll around in it? So what are the wins? What are the moments of success that you've had this past year that you glossed over? That you didn't roll around in. I'm imagining like a pig in mud or somebody's on a bed with money and all over it or you're in this gorgeous gorgeous field of flowers and soft grass, you just roll around in it, with the sun on your face like, relish, relish.

Now, I think what's interesting is when that happens, and when it doesn't, so I'll contrast that with another experience. So I also just sent out invitations to a new experience that I've created called the sage CEO, and this is for women who have really accomplished quite a bit, and they are recognized as the advisor, mentor, coach, leader of other women, of other movements, of other disciplines within their industry, and the sage in my experience, and I use that on purpose, because I also identify with it, a sage is someone who has a level of wisdom, and notoriety for her wisdom and knowing. And so it almost keeps her from being able to find a circle to go to where she can be the learner, where she can be the client, and so I want to create and cultivate that space for that woman. And it's a natural extension for me, because I coach, so many very successful, high powered, well regarded, well known women, and there is an element of finding that private place for you where you can do this work.

So I sent out my first invitations, and the first woman accepted, and I stood in my kitchen, and I started crying. Because the difference between hitting that revenue goal for me was, I had been living in that future for so long that it was kind of like, yeah, of course I did. I mean, right? Like, of course, the sage CEO is so precious, and so new, really, in my mind, like it has all this energy of a seed. And that client, that first client who said yes, was the fertilizer, it was like, yes, and I just felt it. I feel it right now, as I'm saying this to you deeply, like, yeah, keep going, keep going. And so as you think about your moments of magic over this past year, I want you to really do that, to sit with it, like why did this one not affect me? And why did I allow this one in?

And the other flip of that I don't deal with this as much, but I coach a lot of women through this, which is feeling unworthy of your success, feeling embarrassed, feeling ashamed of your success, and feeling guilty. If those are emotions that you are experiencing, as a successful woman running your business, I really would love to work with you; because that's unnecessary, and yet very common for women, especially because we're in the game of being seen, we're relatively new at it. The world of leading in business and success and all the things that we're sort of playing, the space that we're playing in has been dominated by men; and that's not to take away from the men, that's just to tell the truth.

And so women are trying to find their footing here, and a lot of women still are feeling the poles of so many roles, that when the when happens here financially or with exposure in your business, or with success with a product or service, it's met also with gap but you're not giving enough, you're not sharing enough, you should be doing more. Instead of like, Whoa! Look at the magic of what you just created. And that is there's social constructs that you have to work through to not indulge that.

I understand that, and I would love to help you with that because that limits your ability to grow that business, to grow the team all of it. If you don't believe you're worthy of your success, then how the heck do you believe that you're worthy of amazing employees? Amazing team members, right? If you always are thinking that you should be giving everybody else all of your fruits, then you can build an entitled environment of people and not even realize you've done it. You are building this my gorgeous friend and it is on the planet because of your mind. You've already done so much right? Like I say how about we choose pride over guilt? Okay, so that's one thing.

The second thing I was, so make your list of magic. Like these are the things that created this year and really, really allow yourself some moments to relish. A year is a long time, I was thinking about what's happened this past year, and I was like, Holy mackerel, that was just last year. Feels like it was five years ago because we're also head down, right? Like, oh, can I get to the next thing? Sit and wait, like, 'Oh, my God, that actually happened?' Okay, that's cool. So make your list of magic. And then when you go into this next year, let's make a list.

This is one of my favorite tools. I use it in a lot of different ways. But it's called the stop, start continue; what should you stop doing? What should you start doing? And what should you continue to do? It's very simple. But should you stop doing? What should you start doing? And what should you continue? And maybe I shouldn't be using the word should? Maybe it's more like what would you like to stop doing? Would you choose to stop doing what you choose to start doing? And what do you choose to continue in life and in your business? You can, really sit with it. Really sit with it. And these can be things activities, actions, and they can be feelings.

Not that you stop feeling a feeling, but you may be you stop indulging a trigger. Maybe you stop dropping a boundary for a particular person. Maybe you stop tolerating inadequacy, inadequate performance in your business, and in your friendships and in your relationships. Maybe you start taking better care of yourself. Use that tool to help you think through what really get is on your mind. And remember that we create from feeling not from lists, not from a word, not from a goal. We create from the feeling that comes from it. And so when I talked about the vision board a couple weeks ago, I talked about really indulging those visions that make you feel amazing, and that that's what I've done.

My vision board- I'm looking at it as I'm talking with you. Does it have things on it that I want to do and experience and have? Of course, there's the, I can't remember the name of it, but it's some Scottish train that goes through Scotland, and I wish I could remember the name of it. I'm looking at it. It's like the most decadent looking train, and it's something ridiculous like $15,000 a night. It's so gorgeous. But sure, yeah, that I would love, right? I would love that's very fun. I'm looking at a beautiful town in France that I want to visit, I'm looking at and a couple of outfits I'd really love to wear. But I'm also looking at pictures that just make me feel amazing. I'm looking at a picture of the fall and probably somewhere in New England and a lake and I love it's so gorgeous. I'm looking at a picture of two white Golden Retrievers snuggling with each other. I'm looking at several picture chairs of views of the ocean from different types of homes.

What makes you feel good to look at and really relish in? That is where your magic is, and that's really the heart of how you want to be making decisions for your business. We don't want to make decisions to get out of pain. We want to make decisions that foster that really feed the feelings we want to feel. But you have to really connect with those and allow them. Can you allow yourself to feel joy, pride, accomplishment? Can you allow yourself to feel wise, competent, brave, and courageous? Can you allow yourself to feel loved, worthy, valued because it is in that space, that everything comes to you?

A while ago I posted on the Instagram that we're so focused on tactics that we're not connecting with our own wisdom, and this is what I mean, there isn't someone else who can tell you what to do. Sure, there are practical steps to follow for anything, making a cake, right? Here's your recipe. But if all you do is follow a recipe and you don't feel yourself through that experience, it's not the same thing. And as a woman who was kissed with this idea, to create this work in the world, trust that there aren't people who have better answers than you. It's just about having the security and the confidence and the pride, to trust your own wisdom.

But that starts with you having time to reflect and to honor your success, and to get clear about what you want to take with you, what you want to leave behind and what you want to start and begin. And I would suggest you get as many pictures and visuals as you can in front of you to hold that space for you because your dreams, and what you want to create in this world is so important and worthy, meaningful. So let's honor those as we embark on this beautiful New Year, with all the promise of all the mix. Have a wonderful, wonderful day. Thanks for tuning in.