At the beginning of the academic year, our elementary school teacher put up a poster with the names of every student in class, neatly written in permanent marker. Whenever a student finished a book, our teacher stuck a shiny holographic star sticker next to the student’s name. The rows of stars grew—a few extending beyond the boundary of the poster—as students competed to see who could read the most books and earn the most stars.

Even for those who already enjoyed reading books, the gold stars provided extra motivation and served as an indicator of our progress. Come to think of it, childhood was full of moments celebrating accomplishments of varying sizes with our friends and caring adults invested in our growth.

But then we grew up. We continued to strive toward greater achievements, including good grades, scholarships, graduate schools, and promotions, but each win brought us a smaller and smaller amount of joy. And if big achievements felt humdrum, the everyday adult tasks felt like drudgeries. Paying bills, cleaning, working on taxes, and going to annual check-ups—all arguably more important than any piece of schoolwork—weren't things to celebrate or acknowledge, just necessary evils to overcome.

Yet, we found our sense of childhood wonder momentarily reignited when we ran into a project called "Adulting Gold Star Pins," a project by Dex Greenbright, an award-winning illustrator and writer based in Chicago, Illinois.

Dex Greenbright and "Adulting Gold Stars"

Source: Dex Greenbright / Used with permission

According to Dex, his project grew out of a chance encounter. During the pandemic, a person he followed on social media posted, “I answered 5 emails, I deserve a medal.”

Dex thought the proposal sounded interesting and drew a piece of digital art of the medal celebrating the accomplishment. He drew it quickly, but the idea continued to resonate with him.

As he noticed those around him doing the difficult work of maintaining their lives through a pandemic, a sputtering economy, and personal hardships, Dex decided, “They deserve recognition for all of that, too!"

Inspired, Dex developed a set of designs that celebrate “adulting,” which he defines as “when you perform all the everyday tasks expected of a responsible adult. Get up, go to work, do chores, interact with others, and care for your mind and body, there’s so much that goes into maintaining our lives!”

"And since there were so many things you could get a gold star for, I wanted a way to let people celebrate those things without having just an absolute ton of pins.”

Dex plans to print his designs on interchangeable sets of discs celebrating various facets of adulting. Currently, the selections include "Folded Laundry," "Responded to Emails," and "Stayed on Task." In late September 2023, Dex posted the project on Kickstarter, hoping to get others’ support in bringing his ideas to life.

Dex’s project reminds us to rethink our day-to-day tasks not merely as chores to slog through but as small but important work that we can acknowledge. Although we don’t have a medal for each and every responsibility, there are a few things that everyone can do to celebrate their everyday accomplishments:

• Write down your accomplishments in a journal
• Treat yourself to something special (e.g., coffee, dessert)
• Share your accomplishments with your loved ones or on social media
• Take a day to unwind and relax

By treating everyday tasks as important goals to check off or a condition for a specific reward, we can reframe them into jobs we look forward to tackling, creating a positive feedback loop. Moreover, celebrating small accomplishments gives us more energy and motivation to achieve even greater tasks. By purposefully acknowledging our accomplishments, we can better keep track of how our metaphorical stars add up.

When we asked Dex how he planned to celebrate if his Kickstarter project got funded, he admitted, “Like a lot of people, I struggle with celebrating my successes.”

“But,” he added, “I do try to at least reward myself with an extra treat that day, like a big fancy latte, a slice of cake, or if I’m feeling extra celebratory, sushi!”