
List your accomplishments - untilHellbanned
http://blog.timrpeterson.com/2016/01/23/list-your-accomplishments.html
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dantillberg
I was right with the author on this until they referenced Donald Trump as some
sort of role model. Ugh. The final paragraph of TFA is quite relevant advice
for Trump: Don't Brag. And advice for everyone else: Don't Be Like Trump.

That said, I think self-reflection is fantastic. Maybe you feel like you're
always running in place? Write down what you've been doing for the past few
weeks/months/years, figure out what you think has been valuable or not as
valuable, and adjust going forward.

This practice has been super-helpful for me also as a morale boost going into
negotiations about compensation. It gives me both moral courage that I have
been valuable as well as specific details that I can bring up to demonstrate
how I've provided value to the company.

In all of this, though, beware that we tend to undervalue the contributions of
others just as much as others undervalue our own contributions. Even for the
smartest/most productive of us, our own accomplishments still stand on the
shoulders of others'.

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timrpeterson
Author here. Using Donald trump wasn't as a role model but because you know
who he is and that he makes lists.

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afarrell
Your target audience is still going to read his name, have an intuitive
negative feeling, and associate that negative feeling with your article.

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bionsuba
In other words, the audience is completely emotional and is unable to see the
good traits of someone because they don't like their politics.

HN everyone

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afarrell
> completely emotional

Nope, just emotional to varying degrees. If you think that people don't ever
have emotional responses to things or are always able to separate those
emotional responses from their interpretations of things, I am really curious
what life experiences led you to that conclusion. It differs drastically from
my interactions with people.

I actually suspect we're misinterpreting each other.

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jk4930
Welcome to the world of disclaimers, trigger warnings, and safe spaces.

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afarrell
What do any of those things have to do with the advice that someone's essay
would be more rhetorically effective if they chose a different person?

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orblivion
I need to do this for job hunting purposes. What's my greatest accomplishment,
they will ask. I'm not sure how to answer that. I don't have much stand out
stuff, at least not career wise. Should I mention a cool coding project I
worked on for a job? That seems somewhat underwhelming as a "greatest"
accomplishment.

Any advice on this front?

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timruffles
Yes, mention the cool coding project! We're mostly average[1], most
companies/jobs are average, and most employers should and do value our average
accomplishments[2]! If you enthusiastically and knowledgeably describe a cool
coding project you'll be winning vs most people I've interviewed.

If you're going for CTO of SpaceX, yes, you'll need some overwhelming
accomplishments. If you're going for developer role 437 at SpaceX, less so :)

[1] when compared to peers, e.g the people going for the same jobs as you

[2] and will definitely prefer a nice 'average' person, to an obnoxious
'genius'

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afarrell
This is also a good habit for folks who occasionally have a problem with their
brain telling them that they are worthless and can't do anything useful.

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j2kun
> Einstein had numerous colleagues essential to his success, but historians
> only list the accomplishments as they were Einstein’s alone. You don’t know
> any of Einstein’s colleagues names so writing down your place in the world
> matters.

What historical account of Einstein have you been reading?

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eternal_intern
I came across this concept called "The jar of awesome" which on first glance
seems really naive but I really took a liking to it. It's basically just
writing down your victories when they happen and storing them somewhere in a
tangible way. A collection of notes, post its, anything, but it has to be
physical and it has to be stored. That way it feels "real", and its a great
reminder of the small victories we tend to forget

~~~
13of40
I tried a similar thing at work several years ago, before "scrum" took hold
everywhere. I kept my to-do list as a stack of post-it notes, and when they
were done, I'd ball them up and throw them into a decorative glass mug someone
left in my office.

"Update ownership on parser tests." "Get M3 feature list from Dan." "Finish
code coverage slide deck." "Call dentist." "Buy quicklime and duct tape."
"Investigate ia64 hang." "Finish mid-year discussions."

