Each night before my own children went to bed, my husband and I asked them what their success of the day was (even when we got the “eye roll).  The idea came from a story we read about the Olympic Gold Medal Gymnast, Bart Connor. He gave his parents all the credit because they did this with him.  He said, “Every night before bed my parents would ask me what my success was, so I always went to bed a success every night of my life. I woke up every morning a success. When I was injured before the Olympics, I knew I was going to make it back because I was a success every day of my life…”  What a confidence booster indeed…and you know what?  It works!

Teachers and classrooms who focus on and celebrate success create more success. Success becomes ingrained in the class culture and students naturally look for it, focus on it, and expect it of themselves and those around them!  When you implement systems and principles creating a culture celebrating and expecting success, this drives behavior and habits creating successful outcomes.

So how do we put this into practice? The ideas are endless, but here are two you can do right now:

1. Create a success journal where you write down the success of each day.  Do this for a month and you’ll be amazed at your results!
2. Ask the members of your household each night about their success for the day.  They get to verbalize it and YOU get to celebrate it with them!

Jon Gordon says, “What we focus on shows up more in our life.  If we look for and celebrate success, we’ll see more of it.”

So…how do you and your child celebrate success?  Here’s hoping you focus on and find creative ways to celebrate success daily.  🙂

Note:  Speaking of success, our 2nd graders perform their clever DINOSAURS program this evening at 7:00 p.m. in the LME Cafe; we hope to see you there!