Stay Motivated at Work With the Achievement Journal

We’ve long advocated keeping a record of your accomplishments so you can listen to them in meetings with your boss or HR, whether it’s for a promotion or to rebut criticism. But you should keep this record for another reason: It motivates you to look back at what you’ve done, to see how you’ve done in the past, and to see how far you’ve come.

Why an achievement journal?

The idea of ​​keeping a work diary may sound boring, but it’s a valuable practice. According to a study published by the American Psychological Association , you are more likely to succeed if you physically record your progress. Keeping records, especially physically and visually , really helps you not to give up, but it’s best when you’re done and can document your big win.

As Elaine B. Piper, career change expert, explained in a LinkedIn post on the topic , an achievement journal helps you check past goals so you can set future ones. It also gives you confidence when you need it because you can see what you’ve already done. So when you feel overwhelmed by a project, you can look back and see proof that you’ve overcome similar challenges before.

What to track

Your achievement log should be divided by project. Let’s say you’re a waiter and you’ve set a goal of selling 10 bottles of expensive wine a week. This target must have its own section; each day of the week you must list how many bottles you have sold, as well as other details that are related to what happened. Did the customer decide to buy the bottle after you provided them with specific background information? Did you sell more between 8 and 10 pm?

Write down your goal clearly so you can always see it, but follow it up with specific steps. Write down possible steps you can take to reach your goal, and then detail when you will take them. Include feedback from superiors, testimonials from clients or clients, and any major milestones or setbacks, such as awards or times you didn’t reach a goal. This magazine is for you, and while it can be the basis for the documents you use to show your value at work, it’s not the kind of product you’re going to wave at HR meetings, so be honest about successes and failures.

And don’t forget to keep track of small wins. If you’re selling three bottles a night when you usually sell two, it might not seem like such a big deal, but you should write about it in a magazine. Teresa Amabile conducted a study and published with Harvard Business School the practice of celebrating small achievements, noting that those who track small achievements every day are more motivated.

Some logs to check

This is something you can do with any old notebook as long as you write everything down and stay committed to keeping track of the progress of a project, but there are a few ready-made ones available if you want to go all-in.

• 100-Day Goal Journal: Accomplish What Matters ($15.95) helps you break down your goals into 100-day chunks by asking you what you’ve achieved and what you could work on each day, and asking you to reaffirm your goal each time .
• Achievement Log: Help Plan Your Path to Your Goals ($5.99) features 365 daily slots to record your goals, tasks, and affirmations, as well as monthly signup pages to give you an overview of how you’re doing.
• The Empowerment and Achievement Journal ($18.89) sets goals for a 90-day time frame, with space for five categories—personal, career, fitness, finance, and contribution—then helps you break down your 90-day goals into achievable 30- and seven-day goals. daily goals.