We observe a common pattern: Big accomplishment, some celebration, and then… a let-down.
It’s happened to Nobel Prize winners, sporting event champions, businesses, non-profits, adventurers, home buyers, job-seekers, and project leaders of every scale. You hit the high, the pinnacle, the moment of acclamation. You did it! The buzz is fantastic!
Mike Singletary describes the depression that befell him in the weeks after winning the Superbowl. He found himself saying “Is this all there is? It doesn’t feel like enough” even as he was still signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans.
I myself have learned to expect a post-event dip. I need to especially guard myself in those periods from wallowing in disappointment and making dumb decisions. I intellectually know that it’s not reasonable to feel like this but the practical reality is that I have and likely will.
Teddy Roosevelt said it well: “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
Every finish line is the beginning of the transition to the next race, the next adventure, the next opportunity to engage. Yes, by all means, celebrate. Deal intelligently and wisely with the likely feelings in the period afterwards.
