People always say “Congratulations!” too early or too late. Rarely are we on time.
We often congratulate people who have taken the first step. They graduated from high school, made the football team, or launched a business. This is too early; they haven’t done anything yet.
On the other hand, we wait around and hesitate to congratulate people until we know for sure that what they did worked. They won an award and we’re first in line to let them know that everyone else is recognizing their accomplishment. This is too late; they don’t need our support now.
We should focus our praise on the moment where the person completes the actual work: the moment when you finish the novel, after you learned how to write, but before we know if it’s a flop or a hit.
The work is the achievement, not the self-improvement required to produce it nor the awards it garners.
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