Declare Victory and Move On

Audio Version

The phrase “declare victory and move on” was used often by a very successful company I worked for in Silicon Valley in the early 1990s. I loved it then and I still love it now. The company would have an outcome that most would have defined as a failure, and instead they would look at the positives that resulted and say “let’s declare victory and move on.”

I love this phrase because it reminds me that we are in charge of how we frame the outcomes in our lives. Two people could describe the same outcome totally differently. For example one could call it a total disaster and the other could call it a real win. They’d both be right, but the impact on their lives of how they see it would be totally different.

This phrase came up for me recently as I decided to cancel a class I was offering due to lower than expected attendance. At first I was fretting over not getting to teach a class that I really wanted to teach. Then I reminded myself of all the good that came out of just offering the class – the many people who now know about the type of classes I am offering, establishing a presence at the new location for my work, expanded public awareness of my organization and its purpose, clarity on how to approach classes more effectively in the future, and many other positives.

Truly I could see it as a victory if I chose to. And, of course, the positive outcomes I could see don’t even include all the ways that divine order is unfolding and leading to something wonderful in the future that is unbeknownst to me. I decided to declare victory and move on. I cancelled the class, not feeling deflated, but instead feeling victorious at all the progress I had made on so many fronts through the process of preparing for and offering the class.

Where in your life are you fretting over or regretting some outcome? Is this an opportunity to declare victory and move on? The declaring victory part is only half the fun. We also get to move on, which means we’re no longer bearing the weight of regret, failure, or questioning ourselves. We did what we could and some good came from it. It was a victory and we can build on it for our next victory.

The invitation today is to declare victory and move on. It’ll likely make you feel lighter and freer. Give it a try!

Enjoy the journey.