When we look at our daily self care practice, one of the tools we need to incorporate is recognizing our own accomplishments. They can be big or small, like solving a problem, making progress towards or finishing a goal, taking a risk to go outside of your comfort zone, or meeting your core self care needs. Recognizing wins in your daily life helps develop a healthy sense of self, it motivates you to continue on your journey, and boosts your overall well-being.
Recognizing Small & Big Wins
When we accomplish something – a goal, a task, or overcoming adversity – it gives us a nudge to feel proud of ourselves. Consequently, we become more confident in our abilities and in turn increase our happiness. Typically, the greater the challenge, the greater the sense of satisfaction. Big wins normally require extensive work, you need to plan purposefully, proceed through stages, and require persistence. Because they occur infrequently, they are also known as occasions, breakthroughs, and discoveries.
Milestones are the steps along your way to your accomplishment, not the goal itself. They are consistent micro-achievements that when added up equal to something big. They are significant events or stages in our life that help develop us as a being and strengthen our self-reflection.
In self care, small wins are all the little things that add up to you living a life of self care. Identifying all the small and big things in your life that add up to accomplishments is important.
Accomplishment Statements
When recognizing your bigger accomplishments in your life, it is good practice to explicitly write them down. By providing structure to your words, such as the format below of accomplishment statements, you focus on different criteria that led to your success:
- Actions taken – what did you have to do in order to meet your accomplishment? How did you plan for it? Did you have to alter course at some point?
- Skills used – did you have to learn a new skill to get across the finish line? Did you have to find a more efficient way of doing a skill to get it done faster? Or did you get really good at a skill?
- Context – this can have a huge bearing on the significance of the accomplishment and include any challenges encountered. Were others involved, and if so, in what way?
- Results/outcomes achieved – you can use words that refer to quantitative or qualitative details, but try not to just list your responsibilities. The goal is to look at how you performed, the value you achieved, or the end result.
- Lessons learnt – what lesson(s) did you learn that you can apply in future?
- Acknowledge others’ contributions – we often have support along the way, and you recognizing the contribution from those individuals reinforces your gratitude practice.
It is important to have accomplishment statements for you to reference in the future. However, if the format above is too complex for you to start, simplify it to one sentence. In either case, make sure that what you do write will have meaning to you in the future. This exercise provides a tool that will help you get through future challenging times, especially when you are doubting your own abilities. Thus, reflecting on what you have accomplished in the past makes it easier to set new paths for your future self.
Undoubtedly, for day-to-day life small wins this is too structured. Start with either a simple phrase or keyword that identifies the accomplishment(s) of the day. You can do a simple list or journal about it, but aim to get this done daily. If you do it at the end of the day, you can review how the day went and set goals for the following day. By learning to see small and big wins, you can improve your self-worth, confidence, and motivation.
Examples of Accomplishments
Personal wins in self care also come in different sizes, with practice you recognize what you were able to do and not focus on what you didn’t. By engaging in this exercise you are building your own confidence and establishing a foundation for your self care journey. In due time, you build a stronger self care practice for yourself, and lay the groundwork to help you succeed in other life goals.
When you routinely identify your daily small accomplishments, these small wins will in turn lead to your big accomplishment of a self care lifestyle. Below are some ideas to prime your list and add to it by expanding your self care toolkit:
- Get enough sleep
- Eat healthy meals
- Maintain a healthy work-life balance
- Train for a marathon
- Spend quality time with the family
- Meet a friend for coffee
- Maintain your boundaries
- Learn a new language
- Be creative
- Explore a nature path
- Read a book
- Say ‘No’ to what doesn’t serve you
- Make the bed in the morning
- Take a break in the middle of the day to go for a walk
- Focus on breathing
- Be curious about something new
- Go to my ‘Happy Place’
- Declutter one space in my home
- Do a digital detox
- Carve out quiet, alone time
- Say thank you
- Be kind
- Complete my ‘To Do’ list
Other accomplishments in life are important too. When it comes to your professional life, accomplishments tend to be celebrated with your work team as it serves a greater purpose. To illustrate, these can include surpassing sales targets, giving a public presentation, completing a key project deliverable, getting a promotion, winning an award, and even getting through a crisis together. For people who volunteer their time in the community, accomplishments can include organizing a charitable event, mentoring the next generation, or securing funding for their favourite not-for-profit.
Accomplishments look different to all of us, so what is important is that you take time to consider what it means to you. How you recognize and celebrate an accomplishment is unique to each person.
What accomplishment are you most proud of and why?
Your accomplishments are yours and yours alone. Focus on how you are improving and don’t use the accomplishments of others be your measuring stick. We all have different lives, bring different lived experience to the table, and are unique in what we do. Use journaling as a way to recognize your daily accomplishments. By focusing on positively identifying the wins, both big and small, you are priming yourself for a positive outlook on where your life is at. It helps you understand your skills and abilities, and helps you identify what you need to work on. Accomplishments will change given what your circumstances are, ensure to review your definition of it regularly to ensure you are still working towards what has meaning for you.
IMAGE CREDIT: Unsplash | James Orr.