Achievements of All Types

Random Observation/Comment #559: Work towards something bigger, something broader, and something that involves more people. Community makes things better and stronger.

achievements

Achievements sometimes happen without planning, but sometimes they need a bit of intention and definition.  I’ve been sneaking “what is your greatest personal accomplishment?” into conversations in order to get a sense of what people are most proud of about their hard work. After a bit of analysis and mapping, I’ve found a few interesting bits.

Medium:

  • Portfolio – Combination of bests
  • Competition – Some type of a comparison of head-to-head where you can be recognized for being better and winning something
  • Milestone – This includes packaged material of completed work like a book or album
  • Hobby to money maker / entrepreneurship – Converting something that you enjoy doing into a service or product someone else wants to purchase.
  • Learning a new skill – Going out of one’s comfort zone and learning something because it’s cool is a huge accomplishment. Don’t knock it until you try it.
  • Mastering a skill – Being able to do this one thing relatively better than the average person because you’ve spent the time trying
  • Experiences – Collection of these under a theme could be considered an achievement that requires dedication and work
  • Giving of life – Nourishing a growing /living thing is pretty incredible

The Medium of your achievement provides you with some guidance of starting or continuing your journey. Here are a few examples following those mediums.

Examples:

  • Drawing book – A continual project of drawing things and improvement
  • Blog – Series of posts about a subject that accumulates into your brand of opinions. This can be career related on your linked in posts or just a separate site
  • Book – One subject from different angles with a structure that best expresses those ideas
  • Screenplay – A manuscript of ideas put together with creative writing
  • Music – Mashing together some songs or recording yourself singing a song
  • Physical – Yoga for a year or becoming an instructor. Running a marathon or completing a physical challenge of sorts
  • Sports – Being able to play something above normal and having fun in the meantime. Playing with friends and making friends in the process
  • Photography – Putting together a portfolio of your best work or getting to the point where you can make money by selling a photo
  • Starting a company – Structure of creating a service someone else wants and automating the operations so it can be sustainable and strategic
  • 30 day challenge – Complete an epic one that finishes all your side projects or starts new ones
  • Coding – Building an app or website isn’t that difficult. I’m sure you can follow a few tutorials and do this within a few months. Apps are great because you can use them for yourself
  • Travel to x countries or y continents – I find this one to be the most fun because it involves a hobby that most people take for granted. Leaving one’s home and stepping into a new culture is usually very difficult. Hopefully these travels contribute to other achievements like photos or blogging.
  • Collection of stamps – I know some people are very proud of attaining rare pieces which take a lot of work and research.
  • Organizing an epic event – “I threw a 50th anniversary party for my parents in Croatia” could be a really incredible accomplishment showing commitment, thoughtfulness, and dedication towards others.

These examples are fairly broad, but you can imagine your own relevant milestones or activities you wish you could recognize as an accomplishment.

It’s important to:

  • Limit scope – don’t try to do too many things at once. It’s okay to just do one for 2 months and switch rather than 3 at a time for 6 months. Focus!
  • Temper ambitions – these things take time. Like getting a new job, there are steps towards mastering skills and building work
  • Tie it to existing things – you don’t need to start from scratch. Try to tie things to your existing skill set
  • Know it’s not for the recognition – it’s for you and a compass for how to spend your free time.
  • Understand you won’t be the best at it – and that’s okay because there’s always someone better and life is more fun when it’s not a competition.
  • You are your own motivation – I stayed away from anything that included money because most people go to work because the company pays them. Not many people get paid from not being able to run a marathon into a top 100 runner.
  • Set up your discipline and routine – motivation is fleeting, but discipline gets things done. If you are really passionate about this, you will find time to do it.
  • Appreciate the journey – put yourself into the struggle of gaining discipline and learning the lessons the hard way. You’ll build character and appreciate your reward much more.

~See Lemons Do More