Achievement

As someone with the ACHIEVEMENT motive, you take satisfaction from a sense of forward motion, and from a sense of confidence in your ability to meet your goals. You want your efforts to meet your potential. The ACHIEVEMENT motive shares a relationship with ambition; this motive is sometimes tied to specific, success-related goals and sometimes to more general, day-to-day feelings of ACHIEVEMENT. Success is particular and personal, and your definition of success will determine what ACHIEVEMENT you need most. When you meet this motive head-on, your energy soars and you can go above and beyond in the face of challenging setbacks. Because you want to achieve at work, you likely hold yourself to a high standard. The motivation you receive from ACHIEVEMENT hinges on your sense of competence, and the intrinsic reward of excelling at what matters to you. When you feel like you excel, you’re a force to be reckoned with and you enjoy your job. If you are unable to achieve success as you define it for extended periods of time, it will impact your wellbeing and drive. Small touch-points of accomplishment and excellence in your work week go a long way towards maintaining your energy and setting you up to thrive to the best of your ability. 

 You feel this motive being met when…

+ You can look at your work life and see progress.

+ You generally feel capable and successful in your role. 

+ You’ve recently met important goals and objectives, and can reasonably believe that you will do so again.

+ You most often accomplish what you set out to accomplish, even when it’s difficult.

+ Setbacks at work don’t feel final and are not confidence-shattering; you experience setbacks as steps on the path, not roadblocks.

  This motive is at risk when…

– You frequently feel under-equipped, under-resourced, or underqualified in your job.

– You’ve been experiencing high levels of self-doubt and fear of failure.

– You are achieving things, but they are not the things you most want to achieve.

– You feel like you are surviving rather than excelling.

– You seldom have the chance to rest and acknowledge an ACHIEVEMENT.

A Work Wellness Check-In for ACHIEVEMENT

1. When I’m at work, do I feel like I’m good at what I do? Why or why not?
2. By the end of an ordinary work week, do I feel like I’ve accomplished something worthwhile? When was the last time I experienced a breakthrough or a meaningful step forward in my work life?
3. How do I personally measure success? Do I only focus on the outcomes? Or do I also focus on the process, actions and person I am becoming? Would that mindset help me?
4. How aware am I of my own professional goals? When was the last time I checked in with myself about this?
5. Do I like how I’ve been defining success lately? Does my definition of success feel like my own or someone else’s? Is my definition of success serving me or inhibiting me from meeting this motive?

6. Do my goals seem to sync with my team, manager, and/or company’s goals? If not, where’s the disconnect?
7. What is the most important thing I want to achieve this year in my work life? To what degree do I feel that is attainable? Do I feel I am making good progress? If not what needs to change?
8. Do perfectionist tendencies threaten my ACHIEVEMENT? Do I create and take action less because it’s not “perfect.” If I adopted the belief that done is better than perfect, would that help me? 
9. What are the most significant barriers to me achieving what I want to achieve? (e.g. doubt, lack of support, knowledge gap, fear) How will I overcome these obstacles?

10. Is there a specific standard of excellence I’m seeking? What does that look like to me? Do the people around me at work share my desire for excellence?
11. When I think about the success I desire, have I thought about the “who” and not just the “how?” Not just how do I get there but who do I need support from? Which team members could solve problems I can’t? Are there leaders who could be a mentor or others who have accomplished what I want to accomplish who can offer advice?  Are there connections I can leverage to get me introduced to the right people? 
12. Are there areas at work where I don’t believe I’m reaching my potential? If so, what can I change? Do I need to ask for anything from my peers or manager?
13. Am I able to prioritize my time and tasks to align with my goals and ambitions?
14. Knowing that I take motivation from experiencing my own progress (or the progress of my colleagues, project, or organization), can I monitor my progress? Will I better feel the reward of ACHIEVEMENT if I can see my small steps forward each day?
15. Is my motivation toward ACHIEVEMENT leading me into burnout? Do I need to shift my mindset to keep this motive healthy?
16. When I look at my other top 4 motives, am I sacrificing any of them in my drive to achieve? If so, is the cost worth it? What steps can I take to restore balance between my motives, while still meeting ACHIEVEMENT in a healthy way?