Last year was a rough one and, with so many changes and restrictions, many lives were put on hold and many goals and dreams temporarily stunted.

That why it’s understandable if you feel unaccomplished in your life.

Feeling accomplished is an important part of self-esteem and feeling good about yourself – as well as being proud of your abilities and what you do.

Accomplishment gives us a sense of fulfillment – it’s why we work so hard every day.

But if you’re feeling like you’re not getting anywhere, this can have a negative impact on your outlook on life.

Even if you are productive during the day, either at home or at work, you may still feel like you’re stuck on a giant hamster wheel – running and running and getting nowhere.

It’s not a fun place to be in life but, with some insight and effort, you can easily turn that around and find ways to achieve a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Here are ten things you should try today:

1. Don’t Rush Things

Accomplishing anything takes time.

We live in a society of instant gratification where if we want something we want it immediately. We want to feel satisfied and successful right away.

Remember when your little one started to learn how to walk? They certainly didn’t hop up on their feet and start motoring. There were different stages of learning that skill and each one took time.

It’s the same in adult life too. Whether you’re working toward a promotion, starting your own business or trying to learn a new skill, you can’t rush progress.

2. Remember That Success is a Journey, Not a Destination

That may sound clichéd but it’s no less true when it comes to feeling accomplished.

You need to embrace your struggles as opportunities to grow and look at the journey as one of developing strength and resilience.

You also need to start focusing on the present.

A Havard study showed that people spend around 50% of their time thinking about the past and future instead of the present. This type of thinking leads to unhappiness.

The journey is the here and now – so take time to appreciate where you are and what you have achieved.

3. Stop Comparing Yourself to Other People

You can’t measure your own successes and accomplishments by comparing yourself to other people. Everyone progresses at a different pace.

Even if you compare yourself to those not as successful as you, you’ll always find someone who is more successful.

Instead, turn to role models who have accomplished what you want to accomplish. Learn about their journey and see how similar it is to yours.

Don’t try to follow their personal roadmap but use it as inspiration to create your own.

There’s nothing wrong with turning to other people for inspiration – as long as you don’t try to measure up to them.

4. Accept Being “Good Enough”

So often, especially as parents, we try to live our lives according to “perfection”. We struggle and strive to meet these standards dictated by…who exactly?

The truth is, there’s no such thing as perfection. If you are gauging your accomplishments by how perfectly you have performed, you’ll never get there.

Instead, adopt the mindset of “good enough”. Sometimes, in some situations, it’s okay just to accept what you can do instead of what you expected to achieve.

5. You Have More Control Than You Think

Feeling unaccomplished can easily give you an excuse to play the victim role and cast a negative light on all aspects of your life.

However, the reality is that you can choose your attitude and how you feel about a situation.

Ultimately, you can choose how to react.

While you shouldn’t pressure yourself to be happy and sunshiney to the point of ridiculousness, you can always begin to look at your situation from different perspectives – eventually, you’ll start to hone in on the positive.

6. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

We all have goals, and we’ve all been told to shoot for the stars, but if we dream too big then achieving them may seem impossible.

You can feel more accomplished by setting a S.M.A.R.T. goal – specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and timely.

This allows you to reign in the reality and expectations of your dreams while creating an actionable plan that breaks down big goals into smaller, measurable steps.

The more you follow along the path of your S.M.A.R.T. goal, the more accomplished you will feel as you complete and overcome the smaller goals along the way.

7. Find Your True Self

When you lose touch with you who really are, it’s easy to forget what you are capable of.

Sometimes you need to take a moment and reexamine who you are, why you’re here and what it took for you to get this far in life.

It’s easy to beat yourself up when you feel unaccomplished, but doing so is like rewriting your personality with lies and inaccurate information.

To get back in touch with your true self, take some time to do the things you enjoy – the things that you are good at. It’s there that you’ll find yourself again.

8. Stop Thinking a Successful Life Has To Be a Hectic One

Yes, the road to success is never easy, but so often we feel that if our lives are not hectic and stressful, then we have not accomplished anything.

Maybe you landed your dream job but all it seems too easy – you feel like you’re not succeeding because you’re not struggling.

Life doesn’t always have to be a struggle and you’re allowed to take a break from achieving your goals to enjoy what you have already accomplished.

9. Have a To-Done List

A very simple thing you can do to feel more accomplished is to begin writing down a to-done list every night.

Unlike a to-do list, which documents what needs to be done, a to-done list lays out your day’s achievements.

It’s a great way to look back on the day and feel a sense of accomplishment!

When you write it out, you’re forced to really think about what you actually achieved that day – and you’ll probably realize things that you didn’t notice where achievements at the time.

10. Take Joy in the Small Things

Perhaps you are not achieving the grand success you expected to, but you are allowed to feel accomplished by the little things along the way.

It could be simply getting up and getting dressed in the morning when you work from home. Or it could be getting in a 15-minute walk during the day.

Don’t forget to celebrate your little victories too! They are crucial along the path of reaching success.

You’ve Accomplished More Than You Know

Accomplishments shouldn’t be defined as huge leaps to success. It’s a path, a journey, that you have to take one step at a time.

And each step is an achievement – make sure you take pride in that!

How do you help yourself feel accomplished? Share your thoughts in the comments!