Like most Americans, I spent much of yesterday evening watching the Super Bowl. Although I had no particular interest as a fan of either team (my beloved New York Jets had an off year in 2003), I found myself being excited for this year's Super Bowl Champions as they doused each other with champagne and held their trophy aloft in triumph. After all, it's not very often that you get to witness such unbridled joy. And then it hit me - why not?

I will admit that I like football as much as the next guy but let's face it; it's only a game. No lives are saved. No enslaved people are set free. No cure is found for cancer, AIDS or even athlete's foot. At the end of the game, the world was no better off for it. Yet, the winners hugged one another and cried tears of joy - and rightly so.

We could all learn a thing or two about the way these men approach the game of football and apply it to the way we approach the game of life. These men allow themselves to feel the exhilaration of victory. Do you? For instance, how did you react when you landed your last big account or finished a major project at work or moved into your first home or reached your 10th, 20th or 50th wedding anniversary? Did you raise your index finger into the sky and scream "I'm #1"? No? Why not?

It's probably because you told yourself that your accomplishment was "no big deal!" No big deal compared to what - winning a silly football game? You're accomplishments are a big deal, or at least, they should be. If you are as committed as I am to making the most of your dash, your accomplishments are extremely important. They will change the course of history. So why not act like it?

Now, I'm not suggesting that every time you reach a goal at work, you should strip off your shirt and run around screaming, "Goooooaaaaaalllllll!" However, I am suggesting that you allow yourself some form of celebration. Take your spouse to dinner. Invite your friends over for an informal party. Treat yourself to a day at a health spa or play golf at a really expensive course. The key is to reward yourself.

By establishing a reward, you will do two things. First, you will acknowledge to yourself that your accomplishments do matter. Second, you will train your subconscious mind to seek ways to achieve even more because it will know that there is an immediate payoff to success. Otherwise, you have taken the "joy of victory and the agony of defeat" and turned it into the "blah of victory and the agony of defeat."

And as important as it is to celebrate our own successes, we must be especially mindful to celebrate the success of our friends, colleagues and loved ones. Whenever a professional sports team wins a championship, thousands of city residents turn out to meet their "conquering heroes" at the airport. Within a few days, the city organizes a ticker tape parade and tens of thousands of people show up wearing T-shirts exclaiming that their team is "#1." In fact, even the President of the United States gets into the act by inviting the victors to the White House.

However, when your colleague finally earned her Master's Degree after a dozen years of night classes, how did you react? Did you throw confetti at her? What about the time your friend found the love of his life? Did you go to his house wearing a T shirt that says " Tara's #1? Or what about the time your child won the first grade spelling bee or the award for best basket weaving at summer camp? Did you celebrate that triumph by dancing in the streets or honking your car horn as you drove down the road?

Now, I understand that these examples may sound silly to you but are they? Is a Super Bowl Championship any more important than your daughter mastering Chopsticks on the piano? I'm not so sure. And I am sure that it is far less important to your daughter. So why not give her just as much appreciation and adulation as you would give to a professional athlete whom you have never met and probably never will meet? Your colleagues, friends and loved ones don't have millions of fans to cheer them on to victory so they need you all the more.

"Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!" Amanda Bradley