Keep a diary and notice how much you progress

Last weekend I’ve completed my quarterly 1:1 with myself on my goals progress. It was great. I realized how much I progressed in the past months.

I’ve started my sparkle file that fosters my creativity.

I’ve started writing stuff in my diary.

I’ve sold a few licenses for my JIRA plugin.

I’ve released my first Mac software.

I’ve learned a lot about differences between introverts and extroverts which helped me understand my wife (need to write about it).

I’ve stared re-learing French.

I’ve discovered how easy it is to set up new habits.

I’ve written down my personal goals and almost instantly I’ve achieved some of them.

I’ve deadlifted and squatted 120 kg.

It was first time when I actually did a retrospective. It hit me that it was not a spectacular quarter. Sure it was great, but the previous ones were great too. But by not writing down and by not really thinking about my accomplishments they went unnoticed.

If you asked me a year ago if I made any accomplishments it would be hard for me to list them. But since I keep a diary, I focus my time not only on actions but also on retrospectives and thinking it was easier for me to notice all those little things that actually pushed me forward.

And what’s great is that noticing progress makes you really want to achieve more and believe that anything is in your reach. At least in mine :-)