As of this week, summer is officially over. My son has been in school since August 31, but we went on a family trip to the beach last week and now it really feels like the end. It makes me feel a little sad, but I also embrace the seasonal transitions, both personally and professionally.
Personally, I’m getting back into my routine: less cocktailing and more working out, along with less staying up late and more getting up early. Professionally, I need to do the same thing.
September is the start of our fiscal year. We tie our performance reviews to the start of the fiscal year so that we can see whether or not we met our goals for the prior year organizationally, departmentally and individually. I think it’s a decent process – it allows for reflection and a kind of kick start to the new fiscal year…a back-to-school bump if you will!
As I begin to reflect on what my department, and specifically what I, accomplished last year, it’s pretty impressive: we brought in almost $8M in revenue by holding over 150 programs. Out of that 150, twenty-one of them were my programs – all face-to-face and some lasting 2 hours, others 5 days…not too shabby for a part-timer. (I won’t say that I contributed significantly to the revenue numbers, but I helped!)
I think it’s important to periodically check-in with yourself and review your body of work. Work can sometimes feel like, well, work, so understanding all that you’ve accomplished is essential to maintaining forward progress and staying energized. It’s okay to be proud!
You should also be able to articulate your role on the team. While your individual successes are what make you shine, your part in elevating the entire department or in helping the organization meet their goals is what makes you valuable. Together, these are the things that keep you employed, but they are also the recipe for increasing your own self-esteem and a metric for whether or not this job is still the right fit for you.
– Libby Bingham
GOOD FOR THE SOUL 