Do you feel proud of your accomplishments or do you think that they aren't a big deal?

Question

I have never done anything that I can be proud of. I see friends and family who are able to pat themselves on the back for simple accomplishments and I wish I could build myself up like that too. I think I'm realistic, they thing I'm too hard on myself.

Maybe I've just never done anything that warrants being proud of myself. It seems like being proud would come from an accomplishment or overcoming something. Everything I've done is pretty normal and standard in life and that's nothing to be proud of. (satisfied, maybe, but proud?) Do you think I feel this way because I haven't done anything worth being proud of myself for or do you think I'm too hard on myself?

What have you done that you're proud of? Why?

Answer 1

I think it's important not to build yourself up too much for stuff that's not a challenge, but equally well, you should try to find a sense of pride in even relatively small challenges you've overcome.

One problem with finding satisfaction in what you've done is that anything you've accomplished no longer seems that hard. I built a user review engine for a major website, but at the end of the process it just felt like I'd done a lot of fairly dull work. All the hurdles i'd overcome along the way just seemed like par for the course. When I'd started the process it seemed like a difficult job, but once I broke it down into smaller and smaller jobs, it seemed like something anyone could have done.

If you keep a journal, you can look back at your thoughts before you took on a challenge and remind yourself how hard it looked before you finished it.

It's probably also a good idea to take some pride in the small things you do. If you find even small challenges and complete them, you'll be able to enjoy a feeling of accomplishment.

Answer 2

I have one nice friend, and I am proud of meeting him and being able to keep things going.
That's all. I think pride is misleading most of the times. Why feel proud when things can change in no-time? People who are proud of many things have a hard time accepting the reality when these things are gone. I would never be proud of jobs, diplomas, skills that I have developed, or things that I have bought. All these things can disappear in no-time. As long as you combine the lack of pride with some perfectionism, it's not a big deal. Because in reality, we do have to work hard for some things.

Answer 3

I think you are way too hard on yourself. I don't know how old you are or whether you are working, but I bet there are literally hundreds of things about you or that you have done that you should be proud of.

My example of why I'm proud.

Back in 2000 all my freinds were either married or in serious relationships and so there was going to be no more all male holidays. So, I answered a newspapr advert in the UK to go and work in Australia at the Olympic Games in Sydney.

I got a job that was just going to be among the hundreds of others this company had employed doing menial tasks to help the Olympics go swimmingly.

When I got to Australia (too late to turn back) they asked me to be a manager and run their transport team. They said because I was a manager in an office in the UK I should be able to do it no probs.

I don't drive, had never been to Australia before let alone Sydney and had never worked in such a high profile job. Yet they asked me to learn within the next 36 hours the entire Sydney road network (from maps), draw up route plans for every possible journey, allocate drivers and vehicles to every journey 24 hours per day and be confident enough to stand before the owners of the company and tell them it was sorted.

I had one co-worker who had never used a computer in his life but showed him the basics and we came up with a plan and presented it.

I then got my drivers together on the first day, told them the score and once they had got over the fact their boss was a Pommy ******* We nailed it.

Never missed a pickup, never late, not one single complaint that someone wasn't taken to where they needed to be by the time they needed to be there. Everything went perfectly. So much so that when the Olympics came to Athens in 2004 the company contacted me and offered me a job on the spot.

I was so proud, It was my biggest and best and yet to be beaten achievement.

However, there are smaller things to be proud of...for example I live next door to a pensioner who can't get out much. Every day I call on him to check he's ok and bring him a newspaper. It's nothing to me as it's on my way and I'm buying a paper anyway, but his daughter always tells me to be proud of myself for looking out for him when I don't really know him. While this is miniscule in comparison to the Australia tale in terms of achievement, Both make me very proud for having done them.

What I am getting at is, you shouldn't compare your acheivements to those of anyone else. Things don't have to be massive for you to feel proud of them, they could be the biggest or smallest things you have done. There will be loads to be proud of if you only allow your self to be proud.

Answer 4

I am proud of where Ive been in life. What Ive been through, those types of things...Im proud to learn all I can every day and every chance I have to better myself is an opportunity for more pride. I don't believe pride is healthy for your physical or spiritual life but I do feel it. If I were you I would be proud of being humble like you are. It is a great assett. BUT then again pride...no good.