3 ways to identify your achievements
What have you done this year, to make you feel proud?
With homage to M-People (yes I’m showing my age) today’s blog post is about helping you start to recognise your achievements. Despite the fact that it has been a hugely challenging year for many people, which has required us to continually adapt and respond to changes around us, we have all achieved amazing things. Sometimes though, we find it hard to notice those things, or to truly acknowledge them. I recently ran a workshop with a fabulous team of midwives and maternity care assistants who have had a really tough year and have responded incredibly well. I asked them when they last recognised their achievements. For most of them it wasn’t something they had done recently. When I asked them instead, when they had last criticised themselves, for most of them, the answer was the same day. We tend to find it much easier to be critical of ourselves than to notice our successes. But as it gets closer to the end of the year I want you to take at least 15 minutes to take time out, with a cup of tea or coffe and really reflect on what you’ve achieved this year. I’m giving you three different ways to identify your successes and accomplishments.
I always take time out at the end of the year to reflect on what I’ve accomplished and achieved, as well as who I’ve become during the year. I also have a good look at what’s not gone according to plan, where I’ve failed or not managed to achieve what I had hoped to, because there is learning in both the successes and the failures. When we look at both, with balance and self-compassion, we can take the insight and use it to inform our future. My next blog post will be on how to learn from failure, without beating yourself up about it. But for today let’s focus on the successes you’ve had this year.
Journalling prompts for identifying success
Here are some questions to get you started - you could use them as journalling prompts on success. Set a timer for three minutes and ‘scribble write’ (that’s writing continuously without your pen leaving the page) for the full three minutes.
What are you most proud of?
What have you achieved that’s surprised you?
What’s been your greatest success this year?
How have you grown or developed this year?
What have you discovered about yourself this year?
Some of you might be wondering ‘How do I know what I’ve achieved?’ You might find it hard to see your achievements. Ask yourself what would a friend or someone close to you say you’ve accomplished this year? You can also try looking back at your calendar and noticing what things you’ve done, or things you’ve got through when you didn’t think you could. In a year that’s been challenging, you might want to notice the ways you’ve overcome difficulties or found a new level of resilience to keep going when you didn’t think you could. You have definitely achieved something, so ask a friend or trusted family member if you’re really struggling to think of anything and I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.
2. Achievements in your different parts of life
One other way to identify your achievements is to think about the different aspects of your life, or the different roles you play. For example, you might want to think about what you’ve achieved in the following parts of your life:
Family - including parenting or caring responsibilities
Your significant relationships i.e. partner or close friends
Financial
Physical Health
Mental Health
Community
Professional
Recreation / hobbies
Spiritual
Personal development
3. Photo collage
Given the number of photos we all tend to take, you could create a photo collage of your achievements this year. Look back at your photos from the start of the year and gather pictures that signify what you achieved. You might not have specific pictures for each achievement, but you could include screenshots of messages you sent to friends or family that capture the achievement. For the whole of this decade I’m aiming to create a one-page photo collage for each month. My hope is that it will be a great way to look back at a ten-year period and remind myself of many key moments. You could start by creating an overall montage of your high points from this year.
Whatever you choose to do to identify and acknowledge your achievements, I hope you can see that you have grown and had success this year, despite all the challenges, in fact, in some cases, perhaps because of them. Take time to give yourself credit for who you are becoming and what you have achieved. I’d love to hear what you notice so feel free to send me a message if you’d like to share what insight you gain from doing this.
