You are doing better than you think

Have you ever spent your day doing many things, but in the evening you still felt like you’ve done nothing? I did. Lots of people do.

If this happens to you, it means your brain is not trained to detect and recognize your achievements. I’ll help you. You think you have none? I disagree :)

First of all, this is not going to be boring. Yes to cute colourful stickers of all sorts, no to restrictive rules. Yes to creativity and fun, no to perfectionism.

The idea is simple — come up with as many small achievements as you want, assign a sticker to each of them and at the end of the day, list all your achievements and award yourself a sticker for each one of them. Then compile those in a tight arrangement and place on a calendar or some free surface to build a timeline of your eventful life.

Achievements could be as simple as:

  • talked to a friend
  • met a new person
  • had an idea
  • offered support
  • experienced gratitude
  • went for a walk

You can tweak them according to your own struggles and levels of energy:

  • recognized that I’ve spent a little too much on social media today
  • noticed a high anxiety level
  • cared about my pet
  • listened to music

Here are two options I created, in case you don’t want to start from scratch:

Web appRecommended

Achievement hunter

Makes spotting and celebrating your achievements a fun, simple everyday habit.

Open full screen
Your stickers stay in this browser. Back up to move them to another one. Stickers: Fluent Emoji by Microsoft (MIT).0 stickers collected

Either duplicate the FigJam file and put anything you like inside or try a simple browser app, just remember that the app keeps your data only in this browser, so export a backup before you clear your browsing data or switch devices.

Why does this work for me?

  1. It trains my results recognition skill.
    There are always things throughout the day that require my effort, and it feels good to notice and be proud of those moments.
  2. It helps me to track the amount of effort I spend.
    I might not recognize resource-heavy activities and be upset that I’m suddenly tired for no reason. Achievements prevent me from thinking that nothing happened. I got many stickers → I should be tired. Read more in Are you sure you’re not tired?.
  3. It’s sometimes better than just ticking a box in a plain to-do list.
    Functional but drab tools don’t always signal my brain to be proud. The lines of text don’t represent the emotions that I felt. Stickers (images, pictures, icons, drawings) could be a much better representation of emotional moments that are connected to the results of my effort.
  4. It’s too simple to not do it.
    It takes only about 1-2 minutes a day. It’s also fun — I can organize stickers in a nice layout, like on a poster or a t-shirt. That gives me a small challenge and an immediate result (full package for people with ADHD — externalized routine, manageable challenge, instant reward).
  • Happiness every day
  • To-do list
  • Are you sure you’re not tired?