Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is that you don't need to hold your applause till the end. Celebrate success before it even happens, and you may help make success more likely. So many of us are accustomed to cheering after big things, but there
are plenty of circumstances when people actually cheer first. If you live in a city with a beloved sports team, you know the feeling when the announcer introduces the starting lineup. The crowd roars with enthusiasm as the player's names are called and they run onto the court. Or maybe you have heard Taylor Swift in concert. Everybody cheers and screams as soon as she sets on stage. I mean they
cheer even before she's gotten anywhere near the stage. Yo Yoma's fans do the same thing, perhaps with a bit more applause and a bit less shrieking, but the exuberance is no different. In those moments. We are on the players or performer's side. We know they are going to be amazing, and we are so excited to be in their presence and see what they are about to do.
It feels pretty cool to be part of a crowd like that, and I can only imagine that when you are the one being cheered for, it is energizing and confidence building. So this got me thinking, what if we made it a habit to cheer first? What if we started from the assumption that a performance will be wonderful and worth celebrating. How powerful would it be to offer a metaphorical standing ovation before the person takes the first step. So many kids and adults, or what some might call
insecure overachievers. They believe their worth depends upon a good performance. They worry they won't do well enough. So why not put them at ease by cheering first? Show them that you believe they are going to do great things, like the crowd at the Taylor Swift and Yo Yoma concerts. Show them that you are with them and for them, like the fans at an Eagles game. You can do this for kids before they play a sports game, or
give a live performance or take a test. If you are the teacher or a coach or a parent, that might mean expressing confidence in their hard work and skills and anticipation for all the great things they are about to do, and we don't have to just do this for kids. You could cheer for a new hire on their first day of work. Let them know how thrilled you are that they are on your team, how grateful you are for their skills and experiences they're bringing. This
is going to be awesome. You can cheer first for a waiter from the moment you sit down at a restaurant you love. Tell the person how happy you are to be there and how much you look forward to the night, and appreciate their role in making it special. When we start from the position that a person is already worthy and deserving of celebration, we put them at ease.
We let them know that we are on their side, and by boosting their confidence, we may help position them to do their best to perform at a level that we and they will want to celebrate. Now. Of course, not everything we do involves other people and their potential cheering. I will admit I wish I had a cheering squad in my office when I walk in each morning. Wouldn't that be great? Alas they haven't seemed to shown up yet. But maybe there are ways we can cheer for ourselves first. Too.
Maybe that means starting work by focusing on the top three priorities we know we will want to have accomplished by the end of the day. Maybe some days we cheer for something more modest, like the fact that we made it to work despite a lot of obstacles on a day it would have been easier to stay home. How About a pat on the back, you did it, You are amazing. Cheer for yourself, maybe even play a cheering soundtrack. There is so much power in knowing we
are capable and supported and worthy of celebration. So as you go through your day today, look for opportunities to cheer first, to express support, even before someone takes the first step. If you do, you and they may have even more to cheer or later in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,