How this five-minute exercise can make you more successful

Not all of your work accomplishments will be recognised, some will even be forgotten over time but by drawing attention to your successes you will naturally find more success in the workplace.

There’s a simple weekly exercise that can help you win more recognition in the workplace, even if you have an aversion to office politics. You need to work hard for recognition, and you can achieve that by simply mentioning one good thing you’ve done recently any time you meet someone more senior. Try this technique to make sure you always have a topic handy:

1.     Open a new spreadsheet. You’ll be updating this weekly.
 

2.   Set aside time at 5pm every Friday afternoon – which is usually “dead time,” before everyone wraps up for the weekend. Block a full half hour in your schedule so that you don’t rush yourself, but it usually takes five minutes.
 

3.     Write down your biggest work achievement of that week. As you’re doing it, think about which person might be interested in hearing each example.

You’ll find that the exercise serves a dual purpose as a performance review and as a discipline for your mind. Instead of struggling to remember your successes over the last year, you’ll only needed to check your spreadsheet to know what you’ve done well.

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