Celebrate Every Success.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about celebrating every little success.

Those words are defeatist. They suggest that whatever has been done is not enough and deflate the enjoyment from having done it. No matter what you've accomplished, there's always something bigger to be achieved, and always someone out there who's better, taller, stronger, smarter, or faster. Ours is a cut-throat competitive culture, where participation is for chumps and winning is no longer the important thing—they've been telling you it's the ONLY thing.

The truth is, the most amazing successes in the world were likely built on a series of tiny wins. Some of the most important wins, in fact, are often nothing more than lessons learned from failure. I've found it's the total sum of the little things that add up to victory and celebrating each of them makes the journey worthwhile. Will you enjoy those tiny successes, or are you still coming from a place of, "That's really great, but..."?

My daughter came home one semester with an A- on her high school report card. Based on the immense disappointment she had with herself, you might have guessed that she had completely flunked out of school. She paid no consideration to the perfect grades she had earned in every other subject, but rather lamented about the one class where she had come up short. It is important to note that good grades do not come easy for her. So, to illustrate our pride in what she worked so hard to accomplish, we basically had an "A-" party to specifically celebrate everything she had earned.

Home runs are awesome, but without walks, singles, and doubles, no one would ever earn an RBI. No book was ever published without writing the first page. An actress wouldn't earn her first leading role without having the courage to go to an audition. So whether you've just gotten on base, made your first curtain call, or just completed the first chapter of your new book, it is important to celebrate the little wins. While you may hold bigger dreams for yourself, it is important to follow what today's fortune says and, "Do not let great ambitions overshadow small successes."