2013 is coming to an end!… For me it is the time when I look back to see what I have accomplished this year. It is time to really go over the whole year using my journals, diaries and notes and see what have I accomplished – big and small – that makes me proud of me! It’s been my tradition for years and I now share it with my private clients asking them to look back and recognise their achievements of the year. Sometimes the response I get is: “I cannot remember what I have achieved!” But then when they really think about it they’ll remember, and … get excited about their achievements and steps they took! In today’s article I would like to share this little practice with you so you too can appreciate your 2013.
Many of us wired this way that we focus on future goals, and when one thing gets accomplished we move quickly to the next one. Some of us focus obsessively on those few things that are not going well, those we have not achieved YET. This is instead of putting your attention on those things that ARE going well, those things that you HAVE achieved. This builds up a frustration and leads you to feeling “it’s never enough no matter how much I do”
To keep your attention on what is “NEW and GOOD”, and on those things that you HAVE achieved is very important for staying on track, keeping your motivation and in general for being productive and successful. It is important for your confidence. As my mentor Fabienne Fredrickson says: “It also serves you as proof that if you were able to achieve THIS, you can also do THAT!” It is important to MAKE TIME to look back and acknowledge your accomplishments. I personally do it on a weekly & monthly basis and also every four months! Now it is time to look at the whole year and APPRECIATE it!
Here I would like to share with you a template you can use to write your list of accomplishments of the year 2013. CLICK HERE to get a template in pdf format that contains a “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 receiving: giving and receiving presents, attention, visits and so on. Mostly we would 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 of 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.” (I’ve just had a private client sharing with me that she flew across the ocean to give a talk as part of the interview for a new job, did a good presentation but dismissed her success by saying: “I always seem to be giving good talks…) 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!
I enjoyed completing this list myself today. And it felt very good to put down big things like filling my private practice to capacity, creating and offering an online program for PhD students and postdocs to help them write up their papers and thesis, holding my first ever live event for women in science “Creating Change Women’s retreat” and then holding it for the second time, giving birth to our little Anna, finding and moving to our dream house with our whole family.
But I found there were also much smaller things which I was so proud of myself for pulling off. they might seem small or uninteresting to others but certainly mean a LOT to me. Using this Great Big List I got to close that loop and acknowledge those little things that I’ve done and to tell myself “you go girl!”:-)
Download this template in the pdf file and start acknowledging yourself, closing all those loops. 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, imaging 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 2013!
P.S. And those things you have not achieved this year you can revisit in January with a renewed enthusiasm. 🙂
Download the template for your “Great Big List of Accomplishments” by clicking on this image. Enjoy!
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