How Recognizing Your Accomplishments Can Drive You To Accomplish Even More in Life

As the end of 2022 nears, it’s a good idea to set aside time to revisit the goals you set for yourself, check in on how you’re doing, and reflect on what you have accomplished so far this year, no matter how big or small. This exercise of looking back, acknowledging, and even celebrating your accomplishments begins to set the tone for the year to come and the goals you’ll want to set for yourself next.  

Why You Should Recognize Your Accomplishments

Feeling a sense of accomplishment is as important in our personal lives as it is in our professional lives. People may pursue success and achievement across various domains, including education, career, sports, finances, or hobbies.  

Positive Psychology’s PERMAH model identifies accomplishment as one of the six key elements that drive personal wellbeing. The accomplishment or achievement element is defined as the result of working toward and reaching goals, mastering an endeavor, and having the self-motivation to finish what you set out to do. This contributes to wellbeing because individuals can look at their lives with a sense of pride (Seligman, 2011) 

The PERMAH model’s definition of accomplishment indicates that when we regularly set and achieve our goals, we feel more satisfaction from life. Conversely, when we don’t set any goals for ourselves and periodically strive for that sense of accomplishment, it may result in feeling stationary or stuck. 

Being stuck can impact your self-confidence and self-esteem, making you feel like there’s more you’re doing wrong than right. 

The Benefits of Recognizing Your Accomplishments

Think back to a time when you were recognized for something you accomplished at work – it could have been a thank you, a public announcement, or maybe even a promotion and a raise. How did that make you feel? You were beaming with pride, weren’t you? You probably also felt valued, appreciated, and respected. Maybe you felt even more committed to the company and your manager, motivating you to continue delivering results. This is a perfect example of how the PERMAH model’s Accomplishment element applies to workplace wellbeing.

These positive feelings result in happier and more engaged workers, and the same feelings can be achieved when you recognize and celebrate your own accomplishments and successes. 

Recognizing your accomplishments is an excellent way to motivate yourself and can get you excited about accomplishing even more. When you give yourself the room to feel the pride you deserve after working hard towards something, it also helps you build a more positive and loving relationship with yourself. It’s a way of giving yourself the validation we all sometimes need.

When you recognize your accomplishments you:

• Feel a sense of pride 
• Feel more confident in your ability to accomplish your goals
• Feel a sense of closure with a goal you set and achieved
• Improve self-esteem by building confidence
• Can make better decisions about what steps to take next
• Can learn from mistakes you made along the way and plan better for next time
• Value personal growth more
• Nurture a more positive mindset
• Recognize the strengths and skills you used to get you there
• Feel motivated to accomplish more

5 Ways to Recognize Your Accomplishments

1. Make a list of everything you accomplished this year, big and small. Keeping a running list of things you’re proud of accomplishing can help you see just how far you’ve come since the year began. In addition, the list can help boost your confidence, motivation, and determination to achieve more. 

2. Journal about it. Reflect on various goals you set out to accomplish and spend some time reflecting on what you’re proud of accomplishing, what went well and what didn’t, what you learned, and where you want to go from here. Give yourself at least an hour to think and write about your various accomplishments; you can do it in one sitting, reflect on it a bit each day, and write in whatever new insights come up.

3. Soak in the positive feelings. You should feel proud, strong, confident, and joyful for everything you accomplished this year. Sit with that feeling for as long as you can and enjoy a moment of victory. 

4. Treat yourself. Reward yourself for everything you’ve accomplished; you deserve it. Of course, you choose what treating yourself means to you, but it could mean indulging in a meal at your favorite restaurant, a day at the spa, buying yourself that item that’s been on your wish list all year, or taking a trip. 

5. Express gratitude. Express gratitude for all that’s helped you get to where you are now – your strength, determination, life lessons, the challenges you overcame, supporters, etc. Being grateful for the journey helps invite more positive outcomes in the future.