Photo Credit: Ali Yahya via Unsplash
Do You Keep an Accomplishment List?
Several months ago, I was talking with a friend who was feeling out of sorts with her career, and I suggested she start to keep an Accomplishment list, and that we would review it every few weeks or so. She hated the idea but agreed to give it go anyway. The first few times we talked, she dragged her feet, stating she didn’t have much to put on this list.
As we talked further through her work, it became evident that many things had been completed, many small, some more significant, and she began to see that all accomplishments should go on this list – big and small. We figured out that her initial resistance was due to her thinking that the items on this list had to have deep significance, big impact.
We as consumers are accustomed to picking up a new bestseller, seeing a box office hit, or buying a nationally recognized name brand product. Each of these seemingly mundane, taken-for-granted items are a result of many small accomplishments built on each other – in other words – a lot of work! It’s easy to forget that any great accomplishment or project completed is made up of many smaller elements. This friend – she still doesn’t love writing these things down, but now that we’ve been at it a few months, she is beginning to recognize the benefit to keeping track of her own milestones.
The Accomplishment List – this may be the most important list we keep, since it is so easy to focus only on the things we haven’t yet done or wish we’d accomplished. Our extensive to-do lists will always exist. Keeping the accomplishment list allows us to see where we are right now and sets the “present – future” scale back in balance.
Years ago, my father told me to post my resume up on the wall for regular review. At the time, I was very resistant. But I’ve come around to understanding why it’s important. It’s another form of the accomplishment list. What a great way to remember who we are in our work, where we have come from, and what we can now do. It can also remind us what we want to avoid.
4 Reasons to Stop Resisting and Make This List!
- As you work through a big project, you can see what you’ve already accomplished which will give you the energy to keep going when you want to throw in the towel.
- You will be ready to walk into any meeting with your boss and have clarity on recent accomplishments, what you’ve completed (and what you haven’t).
- You will be better prepared to take advantage of any opportunities that come your way – either at work or in other areas of your life.
- You will gain clarity on some things that should go on the other very important list – the Don’t Do List.
How to do it?
Keep it simple and start where you are. Open a Word doc, save it to your desktop or go analog and keep it in a journal. Just keep it somewhere it won’t get lost. Pick one spot and stay consistent. Make a note on your calendar for the first few months until it becomes more of a habit. Include your small and large wins and include project tasks, and also seminars, podcasts, books, productive conversations, proud parenting moments, starting a new hobby, taking care of yourself– whatever you feel contributes to your well-being and quality of life at work and beyond.
Start Today!
If you start your Accomplishment List Today and add to it every month, in 3 months you will already see results; this will give you energy, momentum and stamina to keep moving forward.
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