Do you know what you’ve accomplished in your job and career? Sometimes we need to remember our accomplishments to be happy at work. We must acknowledge that we have evolved our knowledge and skill set over the course of our career. Don’t take your knowledge for granted. Remember the value that you add to your department and company. Keep running lists of your accomplishments so you can recite these things off the top of your head when needed.

For example, one of my family members is in sales. I consider him a sales rock star, which is not easy to do. Taking a page out of his father’s playbook, he started keeping a running list of his progress to his quarterly sales targets, the date he met these targets, and how much he exceeded these targets.

He would also list his innovative ideas on how he would sell more products and the percentage change that approach would cause in increased sales. By the end of the year, his accomplishments were a compelling reminder to his boss on why his bonus was deserved, why they should value him, and why they needed to keep him with new career opportunities.

He used his accomplishments as part of his portfolio when he decided to get a better sales job at a different company. He easily found the job he was looking for since he demonstrated that he could deliver outstanding results. Now in his fifth sales position as National Accounts Manager for an international company, he was awarded “Rookie of the Year” for the U.S. territory. Today, his company poaches him for key positions, to best use his experience and skill set.

List your accomplishments in your current job and in your career

Of course, you want your accomplishments on your resume, but why wait until you need write a resume? Make a list of your accomplishments in your current job, documenting the results or any other key information. To stay challenged, always be on the lookout for new tasks, projects, or ideas to round out your resume. If your accomplishments are limited to administration or planning, but you want to do strategic work, then figure out how you can attach yourself to a project or assignment in strategy.

Take the time to reflect

Remember how far you have come since your first job or your last job. For me, happiness is realizing how much progress I have made from job to job. It’s the ability to keep adding to my accomplishments, never getting stale or bored with my work. Take time to enjoy your career accomplishments as you plot a course to your next challenge.

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23 Ways to be Happy at Work Series

The 23 Ways to be Happy at Work series reflects on 23 ways to help you reflect about the course of your career. After deciding to identify what made me happy at work, my list became this list. Here the are the drivers to my happiness at work that may help you manage your career:

1. Work by your values
2. Love your work, love your career
3. Decide what makes you happy in your job
4. Work can be play
5. Know the big picture
6. Walk in your boss’ shoes
7. What is the problem?
8. Try the same old thing to get different results
9. Try something new to get different results
10. List your accomplishments
11. Don’t gossip
12. Don’t react
13. Don’t worry
14. Don’t be unhealthy
15. Read up
16. Read It
17. Share knowledge
18. Mend fences
19. Be a squirrel
20. Change your workspace
21. Give yourself a gift
22. Let it go
23. Change this!

For previous entries in this series, click here.

Similar Posts:

• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #22 - Let it go
• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #6 - Walk in Your Boss’s Shoes
• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #2 - Love your Work, Love your Career
• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #3 - Decide What Makes You Happy in Your Job
• 23 Ways to be Happy at Work: #11 - Don’t gossip