Reflect on your best work: write your stories


write your stories down

This is a short post to remind you not to lose your best stories.

Once or twice a year, it’s a great idea to think about the 1-3 accomplishments you are most proud of, and write down the interesting parts of the story.

Don’t just make list, actually write the story. Think about:

  • How you identified or framed the problem or opportunity
  • What inspired you to choose a solution or a path forward
  • How you sold the idea or got sponsorship
  • How you negotiated for support and resources
  • How you attracted and motivated people to work on it
  • Problems you solved along the way
  • What happened
  • What you learned
  • Keys to success
  • Outcomes achieved
  • Feedback received

Fuel for the future

The reason it’s so important to do this, is that if you don’t do this, you forget. You forget the richness. You forget the important and exciting parts.

And if you forget two bad things happen:

1. When you have a confidence or creative crisis in the future, you can’t look back on these stories for inspiration.

2. When you need to communicate about your accomplishments (in a resume, interview, or meeting)…

You’ll be starting with a blank page, so you’ll have more work to do, and more importantly, you will have forgotten the most compelling details.

Set a reminder for next time

If you are starting from scratch, even then, doing this doesn’t take a long time. Schedule even 30 minutes to capture your stories.

Then once you do this, think about putting a reminder in your calendar once or twice a year to make sure that too much time never goes by without your capturing your best stories.

Don’t let your accomplishments fade away. Own them. Keep them. Be proud of your best work.

Good luck and Happy Holidays!

A YEAR END OFFER:

FREE Audiobook + FREE Trial Membership

As we end the year, I also want to offer you some free resources.

For the rest of December you can get a free Download of the Audiobook of RISE when you start a free trial to my Executive Mentoring Group.

When you start your trial, in addition to RISE, you’ll get access to 3 Executive Playbooks:

1. Executive Presence
2. Executive Communications
3. Remote Working Strategies

4. And you’ll be able to attend a Coaching Hour group coaching call with me.

5. You can cancel at any time, and keep the Audiobook as a gift.
(No risk: You can cancel at any time. Really.)

You can start your Free Trial here.

Patty Azzarello

Patty is available to speak at your company, annual meeting, or customer event. She can also deliver a custom workshop on Leadership or Strategy Execution for your leadership team. Contact Patty.

Or if you would like some personal help on your own professional development, check out her Executive Mentoring Group. It’s filled with insights, resources and support to build your executive confidence, advance your career, and includes direct mentoring from Patty.

MORE ABOUT PATTY:

patty blog image crop

Patty Azzarello is an executive, best-selling author, speaker and CEO/Business Advisor. She became the youngest general manager at HP at the age of 33, ran a billion dollar software business at 35 and became a CEO for the first time at 38 (all without turning into a self-centered, miserable jerk)

You can find Patty at www.AzzarelloGroup.com, follow her on twitter or Facebook, or read her books RISE and MOVE.


Eliminating the Distance in Virtual Teams
When someone steals your ideas
© 2023 ALL MATERIALS COPYRIGHT AZZARELLO GROUP, INC. | CONTACT | PRIVACY