When I first talk to someone about updating their resume, often they say to me they can’t remember all their accomplishments. This happens at annual review time too. We need to write down the highlights from the year, how we accomplished our goals and what value we added. And it’s difficult. It’s difficult because our focus is on what’s in front of us and what’s ahead. Once we cross that project, initiative, or task off our list it’s gone!
For many reasons it is critical we keep track of what we’ve been doing. Whether you want to apply for a promotion, a position in a different department or business unit, or you are looking (or thinking of looking) for a job, you need to recall what you’ve worked on. Not only do you need to know what you’ve worked on, but you need to know the impact it had. Mining that data gets more difficult as time goes on.
Keeping track of your accomplishments soon after you achieve them is ideal. But we all know how it goes. You celebrate for a nanosecond and then it is on to the other fires/projects/initiatives – the important and urgent items. And before you know it annual review time is upon you, and you regret not having written anything down.
I can help. I’m putting together a super-simple system to help you track what you are working on. It works this way. I’ve created an online space for you to store all your notes. No more wondering if you put your notes in One Note, Notepad, Word, on your phone, in the cloud, a physical notebook, or scribbled on Post-it notes stuck on your monitor.
I’ve used a few systems to keep track of what I’m working on. When everything is in one place and updated regularly, it works great. Whenever I need the information, I know where to look and I know where it is. The challenge is when I get out of the habit of updating the info. This happens when I go on vacation or get super busy at work. One day turns into a week which turns into a month or more. I rely on my calendar to tell me what I’ve done – and I miss important value that I added.
Part of this solution I’ve created is to remind you once a month to update your accomplishments. You can update your data any time, but if you get busy or get out of the habit you will get a reminder.
Accomplishments aren’t the only thing we want to keep track of though. Goals are also important to measure our goal-related accomplishments against. There will be an area to write down goals to which can be updated when you need to update them.
And, if you’ve every had a coaching discussion with me you know I ask what energizes you and what drains you. It’s important to understand what about our jobs we love to do and what not so much. We can use the results of this reflection to inform future decisions. Have a job opportunity pop up? Check how much of the “energizing” and “draining” tasks would be part of your day. There is an area on our online space to jot down our thoughts on anything new that fits into either category.
This tool is going to be very helpful, and I can’t wait to get it to you. I’ll be doing a soft launch in September to get people to use it and provide feedback. I hope you’ll check it out. Watch for the email!