Today is the last day in my current role before moving to a new, exciting job on Monday. Whilst I’m staying in the same department, it will be a fresh challenge and exciting new area of work.
Like any moving of roles, the feeling is bittersweet; the change means leaving behind my old team behind where I’ve spent the last two years. And even though I’m not moving far, my day-to-day interactions will fundamentally shift and my relationships changing as a result.
A new job is a new chapter for me, and an exciting next step in my career. And yet, I’ve spent very little time celebrating everything I’ve achieved in my current role, nor taken much time to celebrate finding gainful new employment. Instead, I’m left thinking about the pragmatics of my new job and how I plan to hit the ground running.
So, have I spent enough time recognising what I’ve done over the last two years? I came into a new role on promotion; persevered in a fast-paced and pressurised environment; took up management responsibilities for the first time; shifted roles internally; took up additional responsibilities on delivering diversity and inclusion for my group on top of my current role, all whilst delivering across my work strands to a high standard? Honestly, probably not. In fact, the only time I was boastful about any of my work was during job applications!
So why am I falling into this trap? Perhaps this is due to my ingrained voice telling me not to linger upon my success, as I fear this will make me take my eye off the ball for my next role. Perhaps it’s that my brain is programmed to just look for the next thing to tick off an imaginary list of never-ending achievement in a competitive world. Maybe it’s something else completely.
Whatever the reasoning, it means I move onto the next stage of my career without fully appreciating the challenges I have overcome, the skills I have gained or how far I’ve made it in my journey. Without taking the time to accept my accomplishments, it’s fairly likely I will lose sight of the amount I’ve achieved through perseverance and hard work. I know this is unhelpful as it is going to undermine my sense of self-worth.
The irony is that other people have already pointed these things out to me, and if the situation were reversed I’m sure I would say the same to them too. Unfortunately, I’m guessing that I am like many of us, where we don’t give ourselves credit for the challenges we have overcome or the things we have learnt from our journey. When it is other people though, we are happy to do so.
So perhaps I’ll take a bit of time this weekend to reflect on some of my achievements before starting my new job. If, like me you have neglected to celebrate yourself, you’re invited to join me.
Yes, this is so important on several levels. I think we need to be aware of our successes and value, from a self-worth point of view. We need to be aware that we are contributing to the workplace and its goals. This growth then needs to be communicated to your team and manager and tracked. This is how you get to be promoted or are able to sell yourself for a new job. Documentation of your successes, achievements, new skills needs to happen in real-time and not a year later, for example. I feel people should be updating their resumes (CVs) every quarter. And in addition to this, one should be collecting emails/letters of appreciation from clients, co-workers, and managers. Those emails you get when someone says “Hey, I really appreciate your help on getting the XYZ Proposal done.” Put them in a folder. And lastly, get people to recommend/refer you and comment on you on a platform like LinkedIn. That would go a long way.