How to recognize your own accomplishments (even the tiny ones)

Plus a partial list of things I envy about other people. Why not?

Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad that you are here. 

A conversation from earlier this year:

Me: Dr. X gave a presentation on his accomplishments. It was intimidating.

Coach: You shouldn’t compare yourself to other people.

Me: I’m not comparing! I am just saying that Dr. X has done all these great things and I haven’t.

(Long pause.)

Coach: Do you even hear yourself?

One of my superpowers is the ability to use others’ successes as a reason to put myself down. Other people are so talented! They speak multiple languages, write bestselling books, and get invited to give big talks. They host cool podcasts, transform curriculum, and attend important international conferences. Their hair looks great.

And that is just a list of things I have envied admired about other people in the last few weeks.

Maturity may come with age, but I am still waiting. In fact, I suspect this comparison habit is with me for life. If I am lucky enough to live to 90, I fully expect to be beating myself up over other seniors’ superior hearing and bone density. And if one of my senior peers is publishing bestsellers and hosting cool podcasts while sporting great-looking hair, my future self will undoubtedly have a bevy of self-critical thoughts. 

But in balance of my self-critique in the face of others’ successes, in the past year I discovered a simple trick to feeling good about my own successes. And that is what today’s small thing to try immediately is all about.

One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Create a Daily Accomplishments List

Earlier this year, a combination of too little unscheduled time and too many to-do items left me feeling a bit discouraged. I was chipping away at things, sure, but it was slow-moving. A lot of my time was spent talking to people, which is important to the work I do but doesn’t always feel productive. I would get to the end of the day (week, month) and think, “what did I accomplish?” And I had no idea.

Then one day in my daily planner, underneath my to-do list, I impulsively wrote “Today’s Accomplishments:”, followed by a space to add details. I put it there as a leap of faith, as my day was busy and I wasn’t sure there would actually be any accomplishments. And then something showed up during my day that counted as a small win, so I wrote it down in my planner.

The next day I tried it again, and sure enough, there was another small thing I felt pretty good about. A week’s tracking revealed a week’s worth of accomplishments, some very small and some a bit more substantial. A month’s worth of tracking led to the conclusion that every day had an accomplishment of some kind. I just had to look for the accomplishments, as they weren’t always obvious. “Managed difficult discussion with Dr. Q successfully.” “Wrote for 10 minutes on the book.” “Read a book while eating lunch instead of responding to email.” “Submitted forms two days early.” “Had a great mentoring discussion with a junior faculty member.”

Small victories are victories, even if they are easy to miss. Creating a habit to track them makes them visible. 

Now, when I look back over past planners, I can see how small accomplishments added up to larger accomplishments. And even the small accomplishments that added up to nothing larger were accomplishments, and I can feel good about those.

So the small thing to try today is this: plan to look for and write down your accomplishments for the day. Even if they are small, acknowledge and record them. Allow yourself to feel good about them. 

And then try it again tomorrow. 

Chipping Away: What I Have Been Up To

A quick update on some of my own activities since my last newsletter, since I have your attention:

• My final University Affairs The Skills Agenda column for 2022 describes a teaching idea I invented that I call the “Pay It Forward Assignment”. The basic idea is that students create something to help current and future students in the same class. In my column, I discuss my experience with the assignment and provide a rubric and examples in case others wish to give the idea a try.

• My family has been watching Wednesday. So much fun. Plus I have a new dancing role model! 

• A podcast I have been enjoying lately is You’re Wrong About. Dated pop culture? Criticisms of modern society? Witty banter? Check, check, and check. It is like it was made for me.

Until next time…

As always, I appreciate your readership. Being part of your inbox or Substack app is an honour. So please allow me to share in your successes, and I promise not to be (too) envious. Just click the comment button and let me know. I would love to hear from you!

Stay well, my colleagues. 

P.S. Right now I am comparing myself (unfavourably, of course) to those organized people who have all of their holiday preparations completed. If this is you, I salute you. I am 85% there but have hit a stall point. If you have great ideas for stocking stuffers or gifts for adult family members, please let me know!

Want to help support my chocolate habit? You are very sweet. Buy me a coffee is a site that allows readers to show their appreciation for the unpaid labour of writers, artists, and other creatives. Check it out!

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Loleen Berdahl, Ph.D.: I am a twin mother, wife, runner, cat lover, and chocolate enthusiast. I spend far too much time binge-watching television and my house could be a lot cleaner. During the work hours, I am the Executive Director of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. I am the author of University Affair’s Skills Agenda column and my most recent books are Work Your Career: Get What You Want from Your Social Sciences or Humanities PhD and Explorations: Conducting Empirical Research in Canadian Political Science.