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What have you done this week?

Quick. What have you accomplished lately?

Government workers have been considering that question, as you may know.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

Elon Musk posted the warning on his X platform the other day.

Sure enough, Saturday evening federal employees got an email from the Office of Personnel Management: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.”

Some of them likely did send in a list of tasks they got done last week.

Some were off the hook because the heads of their departments said, “Wait just a minute here …”

The State Department announced it would respond to the request on everyone’s behalf.

And FBI Director Kash Patel followed up with an email of his own, staking out his territory. “The FBI,” it said, “through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with the FBI procedures.”

It’ll all get sorted out, one way or another. It may have been clarified by the time you’re reading this. Still, the question Musk asked is worth contemplating, don’t you think?

What have we accomplished in the last week?

Well, I coached a young woman who’s about to graduate from college. She’ll be doing job interviews, many if not most of them on virtual platforms, and she’s hoping to sound confident, knowledgeable, and professional. Now she will.

You know I wrote a newsletter last week, along with replies to those of you who responded with an email or a comment on LinkedIn or Facebook. And yes, I breathed fully and deeply while I did it.😉   

There was a conversation with a client strategizing about our upcoming programs for her team aimed at helping them work together more effectively as a team.

I spent twelve hours in front of my laptop for an online course to enhance my work as a Fascinate Certified Advisor. (I think that alone deserves an achievement award!)

And I had a long, delightful conversation with a woman who’s looking for a program to help her team of not-natural-salespeople communicate with more pizzazz in their sales meetings and presentations.

And you? What did you accomplish?

It really is worth thinking about.

Of course, the DOGE boss wasn’t concerned with our professional or personal development when he sent his what-have-you-accomplished query to federal workers. It’s hard to say what the motivation was there.

Or maybe it’s not that hard. Some are certainly assuming it was all about intimidation.

Since I don’t work for the government though, I took it as a thought-starter. And it occurred to me that you might, too.

Don’t you sometimes finish a day and think, “Sheesh, I didn’t get a darn thing done today.” Or maybe more likely, “I didn’t do anything important today.”

It’s worth taking a few minutes to take a second look at my workday or week and to give myself credit for what I did get done.

It’s also a chance to consider how I might build on those accomplishments, advance a project, or take the next step developing a business relationship.

I hope you’re making your list.

And if you’d like to share it with the rest of us, I’m eager to hear from you.