What a Relief this Post is Done
Now I can move on to the other work I need to do...
I was scrolling through reddit this past week when I came to a post that made me pause:
The 40,000 retweets (and tens of thousands of upvotes the reddit post had) shows that Zarina isn’t alone in this feeling.
To be perfectly honest, I’m feeling a bit like this week myself.
On Wednesday, we announced the winners of this year’s corporate humor awards (you can check out the show here). It was the culmination of a month+ process where we recognized five companies and seven individuals for their creative uses of humor in the past year(ish). Not to mention the 24 other finalists who were all worthy of some praise.
And as soon as the event wrapped up, rather than stop to appreciate what we had accomplished, I was happy it was over. I hit “end meeting” on the Zoom and was immediately on to the next thing… which was a keynote for a healthcare association.
And then once that was done, as I rode in an Uber to the airport, it was onto the next thing… which is a last minute TEDx talk I’m giving tomorrow (more about that next week, but if you’re in the Houston area and want to attend, let me know!).
But the tweet above made me stop to wonder: why don’t we feel a sense of accomplishment? Why are we always moving from one thing to the next?
The twitter and reddit comments certainly offered up some ideas (in the form of unsolicited advice):
Your goals aren’t based on what you truly want.
You focus on results, not the process.
You probably haven’t achieved anything significant then.
That’s not toxic, you dummy.
Have you tried [insert drug here]?
Right now, for me, I think the reality is that I just have so much to do. I imagine that’s true for a lot of people as well.
It’s true for Pretzel (my wife). She just wrapped up a weeklong conference and then absolutely rocked an important presentation… and is celebrating by taking care of our daughter (who is now sick again) on her own while I’m in Texas for this talk.
Our situation isn’t unique. I imagine it’s hard to take a step back and revel in your accomplishments if you’re working two jobs, taking care of an elderly parent, parenting your kids, running back and forth to medical appointments, or struggling to make ends meet (or all of the above).
The tendency, at least for me, is to put off the sense of accomplishment to some future date. Once I’m back home next week, that’s when we’ll celebrate Pretzel’s great week, the humor awards, Pretzel’s important presentation, my TEDx talk, and our 3 year old daughter maybe starting karate.
That is absolutely better than nothing. The problem is that each one of those things is worth celebration by themself. Lumping them all together feels a bit rushed, like when you pick one day in the office to celebrate everyone’s birthday from that month. It’s something, but it’s not particularly special to the individual.
Only after reading this tweet and reflecting on it do I realize what I wish I did differently:
Do something, no matter how small, to recognize the individual accomplishment. Even if it’s something as simple as giving a pat yourself a physical pat on the back while drinking your favorite beverage (a milkshake for me).
Plan for it. Before the things is even over, create a plan for what you’ll do to recognize what you’ve achieved, and then schedule it in your calendar.
I’m sure those steps won’t be possible every single time, but creating the intention should help it to happen more often than not.
To that end, I’ll be using next week to take time to feel that sense of accomplishment. Any suggestions on how I should celebrate? Share your ideas, please!
PS. Speaking accomplishments, Happy Mother’s Day on Sunday!
My son-in-law introduced me to the concept of "completion anxieity," which for me rmeans once I start o a prjoect I feverishly workd until it's finished, often poking my head out of my office only to reliaze that 5+ hours have gone by. Yes, I have a gratifying sense of accomplishment, but find that I don't need external gratification. I get up, stretch, maybe go out and buy myself and ice cream cone. That 's all I need. But then, weeks later, unexpectdely, I get that external gratifications, I wasn't expecting. Using my document as a presentation (I'm a medical writer) someone might siay, could you say that again Liza, I want to write down everythingn you say. That ain't bad, but best not to expect it!
Maybe there needs to be a place where you can get an atta person for an accomplishment...big or small...that is not on social media. It is important to share what you have done with others so you can give yourself the credit you have earned. Sometimes I feel like people think things are easier for me than they are and so they just think things are no big deal...they just expect me to do things and have low expectations for themselves. Gets frustrating.....yet some people close to me get it and thus get me...and that is good!