How often do you sit down and reflect on what you have accomplished and achieved during 
the past month, throughout the last 3 months, during the previous year?
Many of us don’t think about doing this on a regular basis, and when asked, have a hard time remembering any significant achievements.
I get to list my achievements for the past couple of weeks every time I prepare for a coaching call with my life and business coach. So I get to feel the power of this exercise on a regular basis.
Right at the beginning of this year I got to fill a nomination form for a promotion to the next grade at the University where I work. By filling this form I went into remembering ALL my accomplishments and achievements during the past couple of years.
And as this week I got the news that I have been promoted I would like to reflect on the process of filling that nomination form and what remembering of my accomplishments really gave me.
On this promotion nomination form I was asked to list and provide examples of the work that I undertake in each area of activity such as Research, Teaching, Leadership & Management. I also needed to show how I met the particular criteria outlined for the grade I was applying for.
I spent many many hours on creating this list. I got to write such sentences as “Olga leads a project on…, planned and led the project on…, coordinated the contribution from two postdocs and largely contributed to writing a paper which is to be published in a high profile journal of….
I got to write what is my h-index (scientists would know what it is) and the number of citations of my three most cited papers. I got to mention an extensive review that I published as a single author, an international prize that I won for my research. I got to list invited and contributed talks and posters at the conferences, an award that I was given for one of the talks.
I’ve got to list that I provide an expert advice to my colleagues, that I am a supervisor to a PhD student, I’ve been an examiner, a co-proposer, an organiser and a chair of microsymposia, a member of an organising committee, a co-editor of a book. I’ve mentioned that I wrote for public about my research and gave an interview.
I got to update my list of publications and talks, which looked quite impressive to me 🙂
And something that I was advised to put right on top of my list of accomplishments was that I have my own research Fellowship from the National Academy of Science of theUK.
All of this has obviously impressed the committee that was deciding on academic promotions. They have promoted me to the next grade and not just one spinal point up but two!
This promotion means there will be quite a bit of additional money coming into my family, which I am obviously happy about.
But I consider the benefits of completing this promotion nomination form to be much greater!
It made me feel proud of myself. I felt more complete and at peace. It sharpened my focus and allowed me to re-align with my goals and dreams.
I felt the feeling “wow, this is really ME accomplishing all of this”! Doing this had a great effect on my positive energy, on the momentum for reaching further, and on my general productivity!
Your assignment for today 🙂
If you want to feel those feelings of completion and positive energy I described above, grab a piece of paper and start writing all your achievements for the past 4.5 months. Remember the big things as well as any small accomplishments.
Divide your life into different areas such as research, teaching, family, hobbies, and list your achievements in ALL those areas.
Call it “My great BIG list of accomplishments” and add to it as you remember the things you’ve achieved. Tell yourself: “here is where I am awesome!” and “here is where I rock!” Then… GIVE YOURSELF A PROMOTION 🙂
This is by the way the first thing that I ask to do those people who sign up for my Most Productive Year Yet mentoring program. So if you want to turn your year into a more productive one, start with the list of your accomplishments! Start with receiving from yourself and acknowledging what you have done already 🙂
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