Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside HER Collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone.

Erica: Girl, stop being so freaking modest. We are halfway through the first month of the year. So this is right around the time that we really start to lose motivation. We lose steam on all of those good intention goals that we set at the beginning of the year. Right?

Erica: Wrong. Not you. Not today. Not this month. Not this year.

Erica: Today, this year, girl, we are going to do it differently. We are going to stay the course, and we are going to keep putting one foot in front of the other as we march towards the finish line of another year because y'all know the time is gonna pass anyway. But I've got an idea, and it's one that I think it's gonna help me, and it's gonna help you stay the course. And that is all about celebrating our wins. And today's sticky floor is all about not celebrating our milestones. How many times have you done something amazing and just chalked it up to well, you know, that must have been some good luck or that was really good timing or oh, no big deal. It wasn't anything.

Erica: Wrong. Life can be hard y'all and sometimes getting out of bed and washing our face is a big win. It's time to stop downplaying our successes. Not only is it harming ourselves mentally and it's putting this negative self talk in our minds, but it's also harming us in the workplace. So why are we downplaying them?

Erica: We aren't doing ourselves any favors. Nuh-. This year, we are going to celebrate our wins, the big ones, the small ones, and we're gonna celebrate the things that sometimes don't ever get celebrate. And, yes, I mean, like, getting out of bed. I don't know if y'all can hear it in my voice, but I am feeling a little under the weather today.

Erica: So I am considering the fact that I washed my face, got out of the bed, and I am sitting here talking to all of you as a huge ass win. Now I'm gonna be fully honest. I got the idea of celebrating our wins from a new journal that I bought myself called the f you journal, a chronicle for foul mouthed high achievers, which the title alone captures a very accurate picture of me. But do you wanna know what is wild? So I bought this journal a few months ago, and I have not even touched it.

Erica: Didn't even crack the spine open. Didn't even look inside inside to see how I was supposed to chronicle my celebrations, which if that doesn't paint the perfect picture of how we downplay our wins and our successes, I don't know what does. But how ridiculous is that? It just shows you how little attention we pay to the things that we achieve in life. But today, I decided to do it differently.

Erica: So I actually did crack it open, and I wrote down some what I think are really big wins. But I'm going to note down a celebration from every single day this week, and I'm gonna see how I feel in a week about myself, about what I'm doing, about my progress towards my goals. I am going to stop being humble about the achievements in my life. Now I don't know about you, but I see this play out in all realms of my life. I am a chief people officer.

Erica: I think it's a pretty cool thing that I have made it to the c suite before the age of 40, and I'm pretty dang proud of myself. But do you know what I tell people when they ask me what I do if I don't know them? I don't tell them I'm an executive. I don't tell them I'm in a c suite. I don't even give them my title.

Erica: I just say, oh, I'm in HR. No big deal. I totally downplay it. Do you think a man would do that? Absolutely the f not.

Erica: So we have got to change how we talk about ourselves to ourselves, to our children, and to others if we wanna be seen as equals in this world. So this raging sickness is going around the house. It is an effing hooray that I got up today, and I got my kids out the door without a fight. That was an effing hooray, which, yes, I did steal that from one of my favorite podcasts called My Favorite Murders. They have the effing hoorays, which is where we celebrate all of the good things that are going on.

Erica: I've rocked out reading some books this week that I want to.

Erica: I ran a half marathon last week,

Erica: Which was a huge accomplishment because it was my first in a long time, and I got the dang kids ready for school without any fighting. If you wanna talk about real achievement, that's one of them. So to celebrate, I'm starting this FEI journal, and I'm going to share with you all of the top ways that I like to celebrate my wins. And I want you to pick one or share another one with me that isn't on this list, and I want you to do it today. So without further ado, here is my list of eight things that you can do to celebrate your wins both big and small.

Erica: Number one, repeat a celebratory mantra. So this could be something positive like I am the shit or I can do all the things. Whatever it is that fuels your energy and your passion, that's your mantra. Number two, take a relaxing bubble bath without the kids around. Nothing better than that.

Erica: Number three, sip a glass of something tasty paired with something delicious. Maybe a glass of champagne and some charcuterie or alcohol free wine with, nachos. I don't know. Whatever tickles your pickle. Number four, text bomb your group message with a selfie and your accomplishment.

Erica: Let others celebrate with you. Number five, buy yourself a small trinket that you have been eyeing for accomplishing this goal. And number six, shoot. Buy yourself that bag that you have been eyeing and saving for. You deserve it.

Erica: Number seven, go out and eat at your favorite restaurant and order dessert. And then number eight, my favorite, spa day. Nothing beats that. It is crucial to acknowledge our big wins and especially our small ones. Those many doses of encouragement will fuel your mental strength to keep you going, and it's going to help us lean into the joy and lean into the why that we do what we do when it gets really tough and when it gets really sticky.

Erica: Celebrating our wins is going to help us remember that we indeed are making progress and that some progress is better than no progress. Take Take your celebration and allow it to give you that boost to keep on going. Because girl, you are doing it. It's only January. We've got eleven more months to rock it out.

Erica: Keep going. You got this. If you liked this podcast, please do me a favor and rate, review, and subscribe as it really will get into the hands of a woman that needs to hear the message today.