The year of 2015 is coming to its end. How was it for you? What have you accomplished this year? What experiences have you created that you are really happy about? What is worth remembering and celebrating?
These are the questions that I have been asking myself this week and I have devoted some time just for that: to go over my achievements and accomplishments and celebrate them! I have also had celebratory conversations with my private and group coaching clients during these couple of weeks, to help them remember what they have accomplished during this year and to celebrate it!
The thing is that we all do a LOT of things. We accomplish a lot, but the problem is that as soon as we accomplish it we forget it and move on to what’s next. We eyeball our next goal as soon as we are done with the previous project and we start working towards it often without taking any break or pausing to reflect and celebrate.
By doing that, we tend to focus on what still needs to be done, forgetting or dismissing what we have already done. This constant attention to what we have not yet done and not yet achieved has some serious implications… it tends to diminish our confidence! Everything that still needs to be done overwhelms us and actually slows us down and reduces the motivation. Without ever pausing to aknowledge what we have accomplished we tend to forget to we have already achieved, and this makes us feel like we have not been doing enough!
On the other hand, by focusing on what you have accomplished, you remember what you have done, which in turn increases your confidence. By looking at the things you have accomplished, you can say: “If I could do THIS, I can also do THAT” (=the next thing you are planning to achieve)
So here is a suggestion for you to take some time within the next couple of weeks, and remember things you have accomplished and created during the year of 2015. Get your diary/calendar out, pick up your journal and other notes, go over them and note down 10 biggest accomplishments of the past year.
Here I would like to share with you a template you can use to write your list of accomplishments of the year 2015. It’s pdf file that contains the “Great Big List of Accomplishments” with 10 blank spaces in it. You can start rounding up this year by filling this list with your accomplishments (big and small), anything you are proud of yourself for doing, anytime you have past limitation and done it anyway.
You can look at it this way. The festive season is upon us. And in the air there is energy of giving as well as receiving: giving and receiving presents, attention, visits and so on. Mostly we will be receiving from others and giving to others. With this great big list of accomplishments it is your chance to give to yourself and receive from yourself. Give yourself credit and receive from yourself acknowledgment and appreciation for what you have done, achieved and overcome.
When you fill in the list, remember the big things as well as any small achievements. It is easy to acknowledge the big things. The small victories though usually lead to big once, so it is important to acknowledge the small stuff. Small things bring us the energy of momentum that leads to big accomplishments later on. So we need to learn to receive the acknowledgment from ourselves, for big AND small things! And the end of the year is the perfect time for that.
Remember the time that someone said “I am really proud of you”, and you went “Oh, well, this is just what I do.” Why not to try and feel the feeling “wow, this is really ME accomplishing this”! Doing this will have great effect on your positive energy, on the momentum for reaching further, and on your general productivity!
Also… You’ll be surprised what you will remember while filling in this list! During a coaching call with a private client I reminded her of the paper she managed to get published earlier this year (it was a very hard work and a HUGE achievement for her), and you know what she said? “I’ve forgotten about it”. And it is not surprising, because most of us do the exact same thing: forget what we have already done!
Now download this template in the pdf file and start acknowledging yourself. Feel free to go over 10 items! This will be a pretty nice alternative to all those thoughts about what you are lacking, what you have not accomplished and where you have screwed up 🙂
Tell yourself: “here is where I am awesome!” and “here is where I rock!” When you put those big and small things down, imagine me cheering for you!! Every small success IS a victory, and being able to acknowledge it is a very important attribute of success!
And don’t forget to put even those things down that others would not congratulate you for, such as leaving that project that drained your energy or letting go of the toxic relationship. If this was important to you and enabled you to move forward than this IS a victory and goes on your Great Big List.
Start receiving from yourself by acknowledging your accomplishments and appreciating your 2015!
P.S. And those things you have not achieved this year you can revisit in January with a renewed enthusiasm. 🙂
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