Why You Should Track Your Efforts, Not Your Achievements

Why You Should Track Your Efforts, Not Your Achievements

In a word: Happiness. Blogger and consultant Sarah Von Bargen explains why you might be better off measuring your efforts rather than focusing on accomplishments.

Photo by qisur
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Instead of focusing on reaching a specific goal, like getting more traffic to your blog, you’ll be much happier (and saner) if you focus on the little day-by-day steps, Von Bargen writes. For one thing, reaching big goals takes a long time, and some goals aren’t completely within your control. On the other hand, you’ll have many more efforts than accomplishments — and that many more proud moments:

Two scenarios.

What you say: “I’ll keep track of how many new clients I get!”
How you feel: “Sooooooo, three months and I’ve only landed one new client. I’m a failure, I hate everything, and I should go drown myself in a pool of butter and noodles.”

What you say: “I’ll keep track of how many potential clients I pitch!”
How you feel: “Wow! I pitched five potential clients this month! I’m about a million times braver than I was last month and my presentations are heaps smoother. I’m getting better at dealing with rejection and my pitches are getting tighter and smarter each time.”

See the difference?

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t have big goals or work hard to achieve them. It’s just a friendly reminder to not get discouraged and don’t forget to look back on all that hard work you’ve been doing (which should lead you to the achievements anyway).

Work Happiness Secret: Track Your Efforts, Not Your Accomplishments [Sarah Von Bargen]


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