Good Job

Good Monday morning to you. It’s the end of the month again, and there are only five weeks left until the end of another year. Did you ever think about the words you want to hear this time of year? I have noticed as I get older, the years seam to go by quicker. One thing that has not changed, even since I was a kid, was when it comes to the end of the job you are doing, the end of a project, the end of a year, you want to hear words letting you know what you just did matters. For some, it’s to hear those words of encouragement from your boss. When we were younger, maybe it was from dad, a coach, teacher, mom, or older brothers and sisters. We wanted to hear these words. So today we will start with one of the sets of words we want to hear this time of year: “Good Job.”

It’s time to tell yourself that you did a good job. I know many of you, like me, still feel you could do more; you want to push and get more done. Stop. In the next five weeks, there is only so much you can do. So take some time out and realize that you did the best with what you had this year. Think back over those things you did right and tell yourself “good job.” We all spend more time thinking about what we didn’t do or what we think we did wrong than what we did well.

Years ago, I always focused on what I could not get done or hadn’t accomplished. I remember being upset that I had totally missed my goals for the year. Then I met a young man who was years younger than I. We worked in the same business. He told me that at the end of each day you must put a period because, no matter what you do, you cannot go back and change anything in it now. You must put an end to the day. I started to do this and that’s when I started to look at what I did right and say to myself, “Good job, Tim.” I was then able to build on the good things.

So many will end 2011 still hearing the words of a teacher, or coach, or parent who told them 20 years ago “You will never amount to anything.” They will totally miss the fact that in the past year the job they did may have saved someone’s life. The person they said “Hi” to, or the charity they donated a blanket to may have saved some homeless man’s life. It has nothing to do with what you did not do; something you did was able to change the world, even if it was only one thing you did.

When I started to tell myself this, I noticed others telling me that also. Before I told myself that, I could not hear people tell it to me. Some told me they had been saying that to me for a long time but I just could not hear them over myself talking about what I had not gotten done.

There is an important part of this: be honest with yourself. Don’t tell yourself “good job” if you did not do something. But even if you didn’t get everything done you had hoped to do, we all have something we did that moved us forward. Reward yourself with a “good job” for those things.

We will focus more in a few weeks on how to work with what you did right and what you did wrong as you set next year’s goals, but today is about looking at your accomplishments for the year and giving yourself credit. For now, maybe you will get a better perspective if you take out a sheet of paper and write down a list of those things you felt you did well and write the words “Good Job” beside each item. This will be a start to set up your next year by programming your mind with the things you are able to do. Many times over the past year I have said “Start where you are and take it one step at a time from there.” If you cannot tell yourself that, you will never hear others tell you.

I’d love to hear from you: tell me what it means to know you did something good and to hear the words: “Good job.”

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dreams, to love what you do and those you share life with.  Learn to tell yourself “good job” for the things you accomplished; use this to become a RockStar in your world.