It’s hard to believe it’s the middle of the year already. Time just flies by.
Take time now to reflect on your achievements, both personal and professional, since the start of the year. Jot down what you are most proud of, what others have thanked you for and the goals you have achieved.
“But I haven’t done anything!” I can hear you yelling.
It’s easy to feel like we haven’t achieved anything at work, sometimes our workplaces change direction, shelve projects or restructure and spend time replanning and reshaping. However, if you have a look back through your emails, performance discussion documents, position description, notes you have taken, thank you cards, and conversations that you’ve had during the year so far, you’ll find you’ve actually achieved a lot.
And if you can honestly think of nothing, then have a chat to a trusted colleague, maybe they can remind you of some of the things you have done this year.
Make sure you capture:
- What you did – did you improve something, change a process, decrease something?
- How you did it – in one or two sentences so you are also capturing the elements that helped you complete the task
- The outcome – and be as specific as you can. If you can quantify (put into numbers) the achievement, do so.
It’s easy to say “I increased sales by 5% in the first quarter” if your job is to increase sales.
What about if you support the sales team, what are your achievements? Could it be something like, improving a process so the sales team could spend more time talking to clients, which in turn increased sales in the organisation?
Make sure you somehow document your achievements, perhaps in your career journal, or in a file somewhere. You want to be able to easily access this information if you are wanting to update your resume, apply for a job or talk to your boss about that much deserved pay rise.
Don’t forget to take the time to reflect on your strengths and take pride in a job well done and schedule some time at the end of the year to capture your achievements in the latter half of the year.
If you want to discuss your achievements or setting goals for the latter half of the year, please get in touch.
Adrianne Harris, 3 June 2016