Document—and Celebrate—Your Contributions in the Sweet Spot

By Caroline M. Cole

At this time of year, many of you may be embarking on a new professional adventure in the form of a full-time job, an internship, or a volunteer opportunity. Or, perhaps, you’re gearing up to change your journey, setting your sights on a different, or better position. Whether it’s a short- or long-term endeavor, it is vital to take a moment each week (or more often) to reflect upon, record, and celebrate the contributions you’re making. Here’s why…The Sweet Spot

New opportunities offer infinite possibilities, and the enthusiasm that comes from being part of something bigger than ourselves or participating in a movement that’s making a difference in our families, in our community, and in our world can be infectious. But even within the most exciting and nurturing contexts, fear and uncertainty inevitably sow their seeds.

As you settle into routines, as supervisors and colleagues demand more, as you receive more projects and responsibilities you may not feel ready to take on, as you struggle to shorten your learning curve in the midst of new requirements, and as you continue to spin countless plates before myriad audiences, you may feel increasingly overwhelmed. You may even start to question your talents and abilities: Did I make the best decision in accepting this position? Am I even qualified for this work? Is this what I really want to do with my time or in my life?

There will be days you do not feel smart enough, productive enough, capable enough, or good enough. There will be days you feel like Sisyphus endlessly rolling a rock up the hill. And there will be days you wonder if any of it makes a difference. At such times it’s important to know that everyone goes through these cycles—even if everyone experiences them differently. But it’s also a reminder of why it’s critical to document the contributions you do make.

Whether you use a computer file, a tablet app, a diary or journal, a calendar, or note pad on your desk designated for this purpose, you need to get into the habit of writing down what you do and how: The projects you initiate, the endeavors you work on, the calls and emails you answer, the people you work with, the enterprises you complete… Big tasks, little tasks, one-time efforts, and long-term endeavors… write them all down at the end of the week, at the end of each day, or during your coffee or lunch breaks. It doesn’t matter when you write these things down; it only matters that you do write them down, regularly. For when you record and review the things you have done, the information you have learned, the problems you have solved, and the people you have helped, several things will start happen:

• You will see more clearly where you spend your time. Not all time is well spent, certainly, but when you, or others, wonder where the day went, you’ll be in a better position to answer that question. Sometimes you’ll discover that you spent the time effectively, even if it was differently than intended; sometimes you’ll find you got sucked into things that could have been postponed, or even left behind. In either case, you’ll become more aware of your time as a resource and begin to identify ways you can use that resource most productively.

• You will see places you’ve succeeded, as well as places to improve. Success is not always possible to see in the moment; it may only be realized days, weeks, months, or even years after the fact. Similarly, things we deem successful today may, ultimately, reveal themselves to be anything but. Because the components of success are not always clear, recording what you do creates a paper trail against which you can evaluate the short- and long-term results of your efforts: Was the entire project a success, or just components of it? What actions set the path for success, what actions led to unnecessary detours, and what could have offered useful shortcuts? Were there opportunities to encourage, redirect, hone, or even stop the trajectory of earlier efforts to better meet your goals? Memories are seldom accurate, so writing things down will offer a touchstone to help you continue successful efforts, and modify others accordingly.

• You will create a running record of your accomplishments, and the work involved. Familiarity can desensitize us to the nuances of what we do—what we really do. Think of work you do. If you’re a student, you might say you “study,” but “studying” involves different things for different students. For some, it’s reading scholarly books, journal articles, or trade publications. For others its working and reworking problem sets, or building computer modules, or writing papers, or participating in study groups. If you’re in industry, you “go to work,” certainly, but if and how you crunch numbers, process information, sell products, build structures, improve systems, save lives, and so on depends on the forum you’re in. By listing the tasks you do, how you do them, and the impact they make, you minimize the possibility of condensing, collapsing, and otherwise overgeneralizing the work you do and, by extension, downplaying or trivializing your efforts. Moreover, the information you generate can be invaluable for performance reviews, promotion requests, résumés, application letters, and other forums that need you to articulate what you have done as a precursor for arguing what you can do.

• You will see the contributions you are making. Contributions come in various forms and sizes. Not every contribution is a grand, public gesture. Some will be small and private; others may be unknown to everyone but yourself. But your contributions can, and do, improve lives—even if others don’t realize, or recognize your role in those efforts—and sometimes just remembering that we did step up and try to make a difference can be enough to carry us through the most challenging days.

Recording what you do in, on, and for your job may seem like “one more thing to do” in an already packed schedule, but once you commit to making it part of your routine, you will find ways to streamline your record keeping; you may even find the process becomes a meaningful way to decompress at the end of your day or your week.

While it may be tempting to file this suggestion under the “Yeah, one day I’ll…,” the time to start your list is now, when you’re poised in the “sweet spot” of such documentation.

In the newness of your adventure, you’re both hyperaware of the tasks you’re being asked to perform and, most likely, eager to identify what efforts result in success. Moreover, because the work itself is typically broken down into minutia at the earlier stages of a task, a project, or a position (by either those training you, or by you, yourself, trying to understand what needs to be done), you’re in a better position to record these discrete, concrete actions now, before the work conflates into that fuzzy, all-encompassing descriptor of “stuff” you do.

But even those who have been doing the same work for months or years can revitalize their interest by taking time to unpack what they do and marveling at the ways they may have streamlined, enhanced, or extended earlier contributions. And what better way to identify the type of work you’d like to continue than by calling it out and seeing where, and how, you’ve been able to make your greatest impact.

So use the momentum of being in the sweet spot, record your contributions, and celebrate those efforts on a regular basis. Such efforts can be enough to keep the fear and anxiety of your day-to-day challenges from taking root but, more importantly, they can reinvigorate and propel you forward.

Working toward Areté
Download the “Document—and Celebrate—Your Contribution in the Sweet Spot” .pdf and commit to listing the work you do at the end of each day or at the end of each week. For those who have been on the job for a month or longer, you might consider how to combine this record with other files that can help you prepare for your performance review year-round (see “Starting Preparing for Your Performance Review Today“). And, if you have additional strategies and suggestions for going on record with the work you do, share them below.

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Document—and Celebrate—Your Contributions in the Sweet Spot — 3 Comments

  1. Pingback: Everyone Can Use the "What Are Your Weaknesses?" Question to Advantage

  2. The second and third bullet points are particularly useful since celebrating–and actually documenting–accomplishments closer to when they happen makes improving or changing methods easier for the future and lessens the problem of recalling things at a later time. Keeping track of these things also makes it a bit easier to update résumés and prepare for interviews.

    Although, as your blog states, the act of documenting accomplishments and work can seem like another chore, it’s a lot easier to do nowadays then in previous decades because of the many online sites (like LinkedIn, Dropbox, etc.) that can act as sorts of digital “time capsules” for past work. I prefer using online sites than software and phone apps. I use LinkedIn to keep a chronological record of specific work and accomplishments that’s also publicly viewable, and then use cloud storage sites like Dropbox & Google Drive to keep past, general work and documents to use as a reference for myself–it might be useful in the future and makes it easier to refresh my memory.

    • Caroline on said:

      I agree, Jon. Keeping lists along the way makes it easier to update materials in less time when and as needed.

      Last week I finalized my own annual review materials in about 30 minutes because I keep records throughout the year. Seeing colleagues–year after year–spend days hunting through records, project files, calendars… only to forget about some key projects has reinforced the value of taking a few minutes each week to record the things I’ve been working on, especially when I don’t feel like it.

      It’s also true that there are far more options available for keeping these lists nowadays. Various forums can help in the process (LinkedIn, Dropbox, designated files on a computer), but it’s important to regularly check and collate all of these forums. Online offerings continue to change, and people who don’t review, synthesize and cull data from these disparate places risk losing access to some of their materials.

      Finding a system that allows for and encourages on-going updates is often the hardest part, but once the system is in place, the time investment is minimal. And aside from making compilations faster and easier–especially when other projects might also be demanding attention–a quick, helicopter view of our work can remind us of the things we’ve done, and the things we’d like to pursue.

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