CHAPTER 8: Conducting annual and other regular personal accomplishments reviews

This chapter discusses ways to get into the habit of reviewing accomplishments regularly.

When and how often should you review accomplishments?

If you’re reading this book, chances are you haven’t brainstormed or tracked your accomplishments before reading it. Ideally, you now have some good ideas for establishing a baseline of accomplishments and continuing to track them throughout your career – and perhaps, life. Think of any documentation you make of your accomplishments as what author Rick Gills calls “a living document,” a dynamic record that is constantly evolving.

To gain the best value from reviewing your accomplishments, I recommend you do it at least annually. You will probably find, however, that you won’t remember everything you’d like to if you brainstorm successes only once a year. Even if you just record them in a very rough form (perhaps using the techniques in Chapter 3), such as daily scrawls on a desk calendar, weekly emails to yourself, or monthly journal entries, you’ll have a full set of memory prompts for your more formal personal review.

If you choose an annual review, you might like to conduct it at the end of a calendar year so you can reflect on the year and consider how it went. Or you might prefer to do it at the beginning of a new year so you can set goals based on what you have left to accomplish from the previous year.

Many people update their accomplishments inventory in conjunction with updating their resume annually. Executives polled by Accountemps, a temporary staffing service, said they believe only half of managers would be ready to send out application materials if they were to unexpectedly lose their jobs. “Those who keep an ongoing record of professional achievements are better positioned for the job search because they can more readily recall details of past responsibilities and accomplishments,” said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Managing Your Career For Dummies® (Hungry Minds, Inc.). “This is particularly important for professionals who have been with the same employer for many years and, as a result, have not actively looked for a new position in some time.”

Don’t forget to update your resume and accomplishments list when you change jobs, too. Jeff King, a veteran specialty recruiter for the medical device industry, even suggests updating your resume every time you get a performance review or raise. That’s, after all, when many of your accomplishments are being discussed, along with the impact they had on the company. (Maybe your boss will even remember an accomplishment you forgot.) That’s a good time to update your resume with accomplishments and their results while they’re still fresh in your mind.

Questions to ask yourself as you review accomplishments.

Involving others in your personal review

Just as you can when you establish your baseline set of accomplishments, you can enlist other people when you update and review your achievements. Ask co-workers what they feel you accomplished during the review period. Ask a spouse, friend, colleague, or family member to drill down into what you did in the most recent period and ask probing questions about each one (see Chapter 4). Ask others to hold you accountable for the accomplishment goals you set for your next review.

Adding value to future accomplishments
Perhaps you’ve identified a solid set of accomplishments through this book, but perhaps you wonder if you can raise the level of your accomplishments. Chances are you can if you choose to.

We’ve seen that, on the job, people who do only the minimum required of them by their job descriptions are not as accomplished as they might be. Do more than your job description requires. Take the initiative. Make your job your own. Communicate with your boss, however, to ensure your going above and beyond aligns with organizational goals.
If you see something that needs to be done, either do it, or propose a way to do it. Don’t wait for someone to tell you to do it.

• Can you increase the quality of your deliverables to your constituents (boss, customers, co-workers) so they better meet needs? Is there more you could be doing to help your organization reach its desired business results?
• Can you make your work more efficient or cost-effective? Are you keeping up with change; could you be doing more to meet evolving needs? Could you be doing more to keep up with growth and/or contribute to growth?
• Could you be doing more to assist your colleagues?
• What new skills/competencies have you developed, and how have you applied them?
• What new learning or expertise did you apply to your accomplishments?
• What goals have you met that you set for yourself at your last review? What obstacles have you overcome?
• What unexpected developments got in the way of accomplishing what you wanted to?
• What did you learn from your accomplishments and/or your failure to accomplish some of your goals?
• What has been your single proudest accomplishment of the year [or other review period]?
• To what extent do you feel you’ve grown since your last personal review?
• Have you made a difference in anyone’s life?
• How have you you improved your level of performance in the last year? Give examples.
• In what areas did you truly excel and in what areas do you feel you still need to improve?
• Overall, to what extent are you satisfied with the level and quality of accomplishments you achieved?

One great value that can emerge from a regular review of accomplishments is that it can help you set goals for the future. Accomplishments are the indicators that we have met our goals, and goals give us the motivation to have accomplishments.

Perhaps your accomplishments seem paltry. Maybe not many of them pass the “so what?” test. Maybe they don’t support what you really want to be doing with your life and career. Perhaps you just don’t feel as proud of them as you’d like. Maybe you feel you can do more.

On the other hand, you may be thrilled with your accomplishments, but you’d still like to set goals – perhaps to do more of the same, perhaps to strive to improve because there’s always room for improvement.

Here are some questions and prompts to help you set goals for the next time you review accomplishments:

• What did I not accomplish since my last review that I would like to accomplish next time?What obstacles stand in the way of my accomplishing what I want to? What would it take to remove those obstacles and reach my goal?
• What resources can I marshal to reach my goal?
• What learning or expertise do I need to develop to reach my goals?
• How can I apply past experience and past accomplishments toward reaching my goals?
• Should any of my goals be broken into smaller goals or steps?
• Do any of my goals need to be accomplished sooner than the time of my next personal review?
• How will I plan my time for reaching my goals?
• Are my goals measurable? What metrics do I want to apply to know I’ve reached my goals?
• How will I keep myself accountable and on track toward reaching my goals?
• What types of accomplishments would give me the greatest personal pleasure and pride?
• What types of accomplishments would most help me advance in my career?
• What do I most want to accomplish by the time of my next review?
• Which goals would it not bother me if I didn’t accomplish by the time of my next review?
• What goals do I want to accomplish that require assistance or participation from others?
• Which goals am I most motivated to accomplish?
• What would it mean for my life and career to accomplish each goal on my list? How will I benefit? How will others benefit?
• Will I reward myself for reaching my goals? How?
• You may want to set goals with a series of milestones. What do you want to accomplish in the next week? Month? Year? Five years? Ten years? By the end of your life?

You can certainly set pie-in-the-sky, bucket-list life goals. For years, I’ve wanted to write a novel and become fluent in Italian. I’ve done little toward accomplishing those goals, but just having them on my list guides me in knowing what I need to accomplish if I want to feel completely satisfied when I leave this planet.