Sometimes a good coffee and good company can be the stimulus for something significant and so it was with me recently.
After going for a walk with a colleague and finding a good café nestled into the sidewalk of an inner urban suburb and choosing our refreshments I posed the following question:
“What have your achievements been this year?”
He paused, sipped his caffe latte and then replied…identifying some significant achievements in his year such as becoming engaged and fathering a baby!
He then posed the same question to me and I did the same thing the only difference being that I could not think of anything that special and significant at the time.
This both bothered and annoyed me, and for those of you familiar with the process of emotional system tracking, I made a mental note to revisit it later in the day to see what had prompted my feelings of discontent.
No sooner had I arrived home from that appointment that I sought to think about the situation and to discuss it with my wife.
I outlined to her my concerns and she immediately identified a couple of crucial things that I had failed to consider which also prompted me to think further on the issue…
First of all, it is crucial to be able to place your achievements into the context of the environment that you are in at the time. My wife correctly pointed out that at the minute we are incredibly commited to the co-ordination of our kids’ activities which with three active and vital children is one enormous time and logistical challenge.
It is immensely satisfying and I would not change it in any way…it just takes an enormous chunk out of every week.
Secondly, it is important to only compete with yourself…that way you can ensure that you constantly improve without the inevitable dissatisfaction that comes with comparing yourself to others.
Thirdly, if you are anything like me and dedicated to living in the moment it may be useful to set up a list of things that you have achieved for 2006. That way you will always be able to review your list of accomplishments over the course of the upcoming year which is a great strategy for ensuring that you stay focussed and proud of what
you have done.
Finally and most importantly, take the time to think about how your actions and behaviours have impacted on the lives and minds of the people you have interacted with over the course of this year. Whilst this may be difficult to measure from the perspective of what you have achieved personally you may have touched someone with action,
insight and inspiration that changed their life for the better in ways that you may never know.
What an achievement!
So to review the essential points from this article and to apply them in the upcoming year:
· Before assessing and judging your achievements pay attention to the prevailing environment at the time.
· Compete only with yourself.
· Make a list of all the achievements that you accomplish in 2006…including the non business ones and then review them at the end of the year to get the sense of satisafction that will come with the review.
· Measure some of your achievements in 2006 through the quality of the interaction that you have with other people and the power of your actions and insights to help them in some way.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my subscribers a Merry Christmas or Festive Season and a New Year full of rewards and surprises for you and the significant others in your life.
Live life,
