Feb 10
15
Achievements
The word achievement or any of it’s derivatives are freely banded about a great deal by people wishing to impress, advertise their results or maybe just for their own self gratification. Achievement falls into one the those trendy words categories, that people love to use; in management meetings, at social meetings with their friends or any where they can raise their profile to impress people. In this ‘scary’ use of the word and other similar words, it is easy to feel uneasy and pressurised into think you need to do more; or you’re not doing enough or not working hard enough.
A previous post looks at, “10 ways to achieve great results“.
You may well have been, on more than one occasion, been subject to the demands of having to achieve a particular outcome. If you’ve not, I would question what you are doing each day! For instance, a sales person having to achieve a number of sales by a target date or time. Or a teacher having to reach certain targets which ensured their students had achieved the required standards. It’s fairly obvious what will happen if you achieve the required outcome; you may get a little thank you or well done, if you’re lucky. What happens if you don’t achieve the required outcome.
If you’re responsible to somebody else you may well be chastised for your indifferent outcome? If so, how do you deal with it? Maybe you’re just responsible to yourself for your outcome, if how do you deal with it. However these aren’t really the issues I’d like to raise here. What I’d like to look at is the achievement itself. First of all the dictionary definition of achievement (courtesy of dictionary.com).
- something accomplished, esp. by superior ability, special effort, great courage, etc.; a great or heroic deed: his remarkable achievements in art.
- act of achieving; attainment or accomplishment: the achievement of one’s object
- Heraldry. the full display of the armorial bearings of an individual or corporation
All outcomes are achievements regardless of whether or not they reflect the required result or not. If your initial outcome isn’t exactly what you wanted all it means is you’re at a learning point; take the time to understand your learning and move on to completed your task again until you achieve your required outcome.
An achievement isn’t just an indication that you’ve accomplished your goal; it’s a sign that you’ve completed what you were doing. Whether you’ve been successful or not, you have accomplished something. If the outcome isn’t what you wanted or expected, the question to ask yourself is, “what have I learnt from this experience?”
Give yourself more credit when you reflect on what you’ve done (achieved); rather than divide your outcomes up into ‘successful achievements’ and ‘unsuccessful achievement’; group them all together and call them achievements. If that idea doesn’t ‘float your boat’, leave them in the two groups and call the two groups ‘successful achievements’ and ‘learning experiences’.
Do away with disregarding your unsuccessful outcomes, learn from them and turn them into successful achievements. It will certainly help you to realise what you can achieve, what you need to learn and also to be more patient with yourself. It will very easily become part of your personal growth and self development, very soon the changes in you will be seen by your friends, much to your benefit.
Thank you for reading this post, please let me know what you think and share your experiences in the comments below. While you’re here please take the time to sign up for the newsletter or alternatively you may prefer to subscribe for regular updates in your favourite reader or by email.
photo credit: Constantin B.
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'We learn from our mistakes', I can remember my mum and dad talling me that when I was very young, now I can really understand what they meant from that statement. Thank you Paul for giving me the clarity I have so long wanted for my learning to continue!
Jayne, thank you for your comment and sharing your learning. It's good to hear you are benefiting from reading the posts. Thanks for dropping by, I hope to hear from you again
Some of my greatest achievements were actually my worse mistakes. Why? Because without them I would have learned nothing. I was once asked what I would change if I could… well the answer is nothing because if I got rid of the mistakes then I would not be able to have any successes.
Hi Paul,
Learning from our mistakes makes me think of that story by Ben Franklin when he failed 10,000 times to create the lightbulb, he said that he didn't fail, he found 10,000 different ways that didn't work. It only takes the one time
Grouping all unsuccessful and successful achievements into one grouping is good advice. Besides, sometimes it's too early to tell whether an attempt was really unsuccessful or not – maybe more time is needed for a positive outcome. Don't be too hasty to say that some task or goal you have is unsuccessful.
Karen
Shane, thanks for taking the time to comment. That's a great attitude to take when considering your achievements. Many of us could benefit from more (self) awareness about what is actually happening around us and how much we are achieving.
Karen, thank you for adding your comment. Your reason for grouping all achievements together sounds great. Using a little more patience; allowing our successes to blossom in their own time.
Hmmm. not sure it took my comment the first time. I'll be back to make sure, but the jist of it was to let you know thanks for the visit to lees shizzle as that is how I found you and for your comments there. I will return to research your goal setting tools for my benefit. nice blog Paul
Thanks for stopping by to comment, your views are very much appreciated. I look forward to your return.
Regards
Paul
Good story but it was Tom Edison with the lightbulb.
Achievements are the result of action. If you have a goal and you take action toward reaching that goal, what happens along the road is achievements. Sometimes they aren't what was planned. Like you say, you don't always achieve the thing you aimed for but you aren't stuck in the mud either.
Ralph, thanks for your comment. Yes, I think your right about Edison, however I've heard it said before that Ben Franklin was heavily involved somewhere along the line. Still quote is great all the same.
Ralph, thank you for your comment. Yes, outcomes don't always end up as what we are aiming to achieve. A learning experience and a very useful one, usually.
Regards
Paul
Thanks for the correction, Ralph.
You're right, it was Thomas Edison – that'll teach me to have my coffee before I comment