Collect Your Achievements to Motivate Yourself =)
I encourage you to stop sabotaging yourself at once. When in a “the glass is half empty”- mindset, there are a thousand little reasons which people find in order to tell themselves that they are not good enough, not worthy, not lovable, not great the way they are etc. – and all of these reasons don’t do us any good.
There probably are things in your life which you’d like to improve or achieve and that’s great, it keeps our journey here interesting =)
If you tend to be hard on yourself when it comes to your own achievements in life, here’s a little exercise that can help you focus on the good side of things, the side that gives you energy and inspiration to move on.
It is also helpful when you want that extra boost of self esteem or inspiration when you’ve just slipped off track.
The idea is as simple as it is effective:
Instead of focusing one everything that you didn’t achieve, didn’t do properly, didn’t try etc., the goal is to get you focused on everything that you have achieved in your life. With that mindset you can be much more at ease about the moment you’re in, looking back at all the great things on your road, and from there create a positive attitude towards the goals and plans that make sense for your life now.
- Take a bowl–like container of your choice, the more you like this item, the better, as this will influence your attitude towards the content as well =) (I have taken a shell that I have found on the beach many years ago)
- Write down all the major things that you have achieved in your life, each of these on a separate little piece of paper.
- It’s good to write these down in first person perspective. For example “I have done xy…” instead of just noting down “xy”
- Place the little notes into your bowl. You can fold them if you like, just don’t go too crazy with your origami skills here, as you’ll be looking at the notes regularly ;-)
- Look at your achievements daily. Take all the notes out of the bowl one by one and read through all your achievements. If you’re currently very strict with yourself when it comes to your achievements, two to three times a day is a good idea.
- Keep your achievement bowl (mug, shell, whatever you picked) up to date: Add new things as they come up and clear out the things that have become a part of your conscious attitude through this exercise.
The major achievements in your life don’t have to be huge things, you know best which decisions in your life were the important ones. Allow yourself to look at all the achievements on your road as equally big, it’s your perspective that turns them into the major ones. Life is made up of many little moments.
Here are some ideas to get you going, I’m sure you’ll come up with many more. =)
- being X years old and still being around =) (awesome that you are!)
- finishing school / high school / college etc
- all those times you have been there for others when they needed help
- all those times you have been able to accept help from others when you needed it
- every little step you have taken for your health
- your job and all the achievements in your work life
- anything you have created: that song or story you’ve written, that picture you painted…
- raising your kid(s)
- taking care of your pets
- that person you have decided to be with
- all those moments when you had to make a decision and followed your heart
- all those internal and external conflicts that you have solved
- all those places you have seen
- activities you have picked up which made/make you feel good
- things that you have learned in the past and that you are learning now
- that thing you’ve always wanted to do and did
- that instrument you learned to play
- those books you have read
- the decision to work on yourself and allow yourself to grow
- good causes for which you have donated time, money or energy
- every time you decided to do something that you have put off for so long
- every excess baggage in your life that you have decided to let go, be it things or past events
- every challenge that you have dealt with, big or small
- every time you have overcome your fears
- being able to appreciate what you have
- being able to see the importance of little things in life
- being able to accept others
- being able to accept yourself
- being able to love others
- being able to love yourself
…and so many more…
A big thanks goes to the wonderful friend who inspired this post. You know who you are <3
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