Why do we sit and do word searches, crosswords puzzles, sudoku, and jigsaw puzzles? It is the sense of satisfaction that we get when we have finished something that is new and challenging. We just stripped and finished the tile floors in our home that had been long neglected; through the blisters and backaches, we beamed at the newly rediscovered beauty that lie in our 40-plus year-old floor.
Could we have paid a company to come and do it for us? Of course, we could have, but the gloss that looked back at us after we applied that last layer of sealant made it all worthwhile.
“A sense of accomplishment is a result of working toward and reaching goals, mastering an endeavor, and having self-motivation to finish what you set out to do. This contributes to wellbeing because individuals can look at their lives with a sense of pride,” says Martin Seligman that father of positivism.
There are ways to build on accomplishment. First, set goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound). Second, reflect on any past successes, no matter how small, and third, look for new ways to celebrate these achievements.
With the idea of SMART goals, being specific means to have a goal that is easily defined, such as, reaching a sales goal, measurable is a time limit or certain amount of something done. Achievable is important because you want to have a goal that is realistic so that you can succeed in what you are trying to do, realistic is quite similar in that your goal is not out of reach, like lifting a large weight. The last of the SMART goals is that it is time-bound, “I will do X by this date.”
When we do something or achieve some goal outside of what we normally do, it is a reason to celebrate. That celebration may not necessarily include hooting, hollering and high-fiving, but with a sigh of relief and the confidence that if we did this, what else can we accomplish?
