What Does Accomplishment Feel Look
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about what is feels like to not accomplish something. We all know what that feels like; crappy! Today I want to talk a little bit about what it feels like to have accomplished something because all we all know what that feels like too and it is important to tap into those feelings.
Both sides of the coin
When I work with clients who are struggling to make change (athletes, weight, diet, exercise, etc.) I like to develop awareness around what is and what they want it to be but I also like to talk about other, past successes that they’ve had.
Past successes
Helping people to remember past successes allows them to opportunity to tap into those feelings of success, confidence and motivation. Part of ‘being’ successful is feeling successful and feeling all of the feelings that come with that: confidence, self esteem, flow, motivation, positive, etc.
How does success lead to another
The most important thing is for you to tap into those feelings of success and remember what they felt like; remember that you were and can be successful. There is carry over value in those feelings but on a daily basis we get so sucked into the bad, awful, negative feelings that we forget that we have had many positive, successful things happen to us.
For example, you were really successful in closing a deal at work but you have an ‘unsuccessful’ batting average, free throw percentage, first serve percentage and tee distance. You have been unsuccessful losing weight, getting rid of emotional eating, dealing with exercise addiction or overcoming binge and purge.
Feeling successful at work has some similar elements as feeling successful in all the other areas. They are obviously not totally the same but some of the skill sets are the same. Two differences: there are a lot of emotions attached to all of these other things and since you’ve dealt with all of these other things in a similar way for a long time they are more challenging to change. However challenging it can be done!
Self efficacy
I try not to use big words in my blog but this is a good one so let me explain. Self efficacy is when you feel you can meet the demands of the task. Most people don’t struggle with this too much at work. You go to school to learn your profession so you are well ‘educated’ by the time you hit the work force. That doesn’t mean that your job is ‘easy’ and that there aren’t new things to learn but you can meet the demands. It’s in these other areas of your life that self efficacy is much more difficult because of the emotions and how ingrained your behavior is.
You probably have self efficacy at work but not in sports, exercise, weight loss, dieting, etc. In sports, exercise, weight loss, dieting, etc. (unconsciously) you don’t feel you can meet the demands which provides anxiety and so you just don’t do or don’t try to make change.
Think about one success
Find one success and write down all that you can remember about it. Find the nuggets that you can use to make change in an area of your life that you struggle with. Find those skills that do transfer over so that you can start building motivation and confidence to get to where you want to go this year.
Free webinar
On December 30th Noon-1PST I am hosting a free webinar on what gets in the way of success. It’s centered around weight loss but is applicable to all change. If you are interested please visit my website to register: Dr. Michelle
Happy Holidays to you and your family!
Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: tracecohen.me
