22 Dec 2021 · 5 min
Scott McInnes spent four years running his consultancy without celebrating wins, relying instead on external validation. A hiring process forced him to document his firm's projects, logos, and revenue growth, revealing how much he'd actually accomplished. He now encourages taking a few minutes each year to list three or four achievements you're proud of.
Hello there. It is the end of December. It is lashing rain. It is miserable and dark, and I am wrapping up for Christmas. And I guess as I was doing that, as many of us do, I was reflecting on reflections because, you know, do you ever take time to look back? Do you ever celebrate your achievements, what you've done really well, or perhaps what you could have done better? I know that certainly as someone who's run their own consulting business for 4 years, I know I haven't reflected nearly enough. I know that I don't give myself a pat on the back. I know that I'm not a fan of looking back. I haven't celebrated successes. I haven't taken stock of what I've achieved or the positive impact that I've had on others. And the term that I used before that very much amused a former boss of mine, Anth Burrows, was that I always think of it as a bit like peacocking, kind of patting oneself on the back, fluffing up the tail feathers and saying, wow, look at me, look how great I am. And I know that certainly living here in Ireland, that's not something one does. So it isn't something I have done. And I'm not great at it. And I'm really conscious of that. You know, it felt like that whole idea of recognizing success has always felt like something that others should do to you. Well done. Nice one. Great project. Thanks for helping. It made such a difference. So you always end up looking for that external validation, that external thank you, that pat on the back. And it's kind of funny that it was probably, God, 5 or 6 or maybe 7 years ago now that a friend of mine, Annette Fleet, in a previous role that I was in, said exactly that. Stop looking for external validation. You're really good. At what you do. But I think that often we don't take time to recognize that ourselves. Now, it's been interesting because Q4 this year has been very different. I've just spent some time hiring a new employee. And as part of that process, I actually forced myself to sit down and write out just 3 or 4 slides about why this person would want to join Inspiring Change. What's the story? What's the reason behind them wanting to join? What's the really compelling reason that they'd want to jump ship from their previous job and join Inspiring Change? So I wrote down all the projects that I'd done and the impact they'd had, the brands that we'd worked for with the logos on screen. I put down a graph of where we'd come from in terms of revenue and where we're going. And I'd broken that down into a pipeline for next year, and it was really healthy.. And it was probably then that I went, God, I've actually built something quite powerful here and quite good. Something that actually I am really, really proud of. And that was really powerful. Just listing out those achievements, just listing out what I'd done was really, really powerful. And I'll do it more now going forward, not in a peacocking way. Not in a patting myself on the back way or a showy way, but certainly in a quiet, humble way where I can just celebrate quietly what I and the company have achieved over that period. And maybe as part of this little end of year message, I might respectfully suggest that you do the same. Take literally 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, grab a cuppa or a glass of wine, maybe given the time of the year, and think about 3 or 4 things that you've done that have really made a difference to you or to others this year. 3 or 4 things that you're really proud of and why you're really proud of those things. Because you know what, often if you don't celebrate your wins, maybe nobody else will. And that'd be a very, very sad state of affairs. So it really just leaves it to me now to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. And we will be back with more podcasts, amazing guests, and Building Better Culture Shorts in 2022. Um, until then, Catch you later, and thanks for listening.
