My Accomplishment Portfolio

Duration: 20-30 minutes

Accomplishment Exercise

Intro:

Accomplishment is included as one of the facets of well-being because like the other components, it is something that humans pursue for its own sake.

Even though we all know people who are high achievers for extrinsic reasons, such as increased power, status or pay, accomplishment per se is intrinsically motivating.

Nurturing accomplishment will lead to higher well-being.

Exercise:

In a well-being journal, draw up a three-column table.

• In the first column, assign a block of rows to every decade of your life: 0-10,11-20,21-30 and so on.
• Taking each decade in turn, in the second column make a list of all the things that you achieved in those 10 years which made you feel proud then, or make you feel proud now as you look back on them.

 

How you define achievement is up to you. Include all your achievements, big and small. Don’t forget that achievement isn’t confined to traditional measures of success, such as money, status or qualifications.

When you think you’ve exhausted all the possibilities, spend at least another 5 minutes on this. Think about all the jobs you’ve done, whether paid or unpaid, all the clubs and groups you’ve belonged to, as well as all the formal and informal learning you’ve done.

The chances are that there are far more achievements on your list than you first imagined, and many that you’d completely forgotten about.

• Now identify the natural abilities, interests or strengths you used to be successful. Write them down in the third column. Consider whether any patterns emerge.

 

Ask yourself how you can use your abilities, interests or strengths this week, at work or at home, in a new way.

Record your ideas in your journal. Commit to doing it every day for at least a week. Notice the effect on your well-being at the end of the week.