Ask Wednesday: What recent accomplishment has given you the most satisfaction?

By Morris Dean

Today's interview features a single question that I put to a number of people on Monday: Of everything you have done since Friday, what has given you the most satisfaction of accomplishment? And why?
    That question seems to have arisen because I had accomplished something seemingly very simple of my own over the weekend, but it had given me a surprising amount of satisfaction. I had simply gone out to sit on the back porch with my wife and our poodle while they had the second installment of their breakfast—after taking their morning walk. That was an accomplishment for me because, unlike them, I have all of my breakfast in one sitting, and was already off on some project—perhaps blogging—and not of a mind to just relax.
    I've always been the sort of person who spends more time putting up a hammock, for example, than lying in it, or more time arranging the furniture on the porch than sitting in it—sort of a workaholic, a too-busy-to-sit-down kind of guy. Prune the roses, but don't spend much time smelling them.
    So, by simply going out to sit on the back porch with my wife and our dog and enjoy their company while listening to the birds sing and the fountain gurgle, I seemed to have made an important breakthrough in my adventure of trying to learn "what life is all about."
    That gave me a lot of satisfaction, in addition to just enjoying the experience.

Okay, so now let's see how the people I surveyed answered the question. What accomplishment since Friday gave them the most satisfaction, and why?

A man in his early twenties who recently won a mixed martial arts contest:

I got the most satisfacaction from realizing I have the potential to be really good at a sport I love to do and also that I am improving with every fight.

A technical communicator with a huge software company in North Carolina:

I worked in my yard on Saturday. The immediate reward of seeing the fruits of my efforts was the most satisfying feeling of the three days you mentioned.

A keyboard musician and teacher:

Of the things I have done since Friday, I would have to give a tie to three things that gave me the most satisfaction of accomplishment. They are all very different, and they all brought me those feelings, so I couldn't decide which was number one!

• Completing a workout at the gym. While this may seem mundane for many people, this was the first workout I did on my own after working with my trainer. Also, it's been hard work, so I felt accomplishment in sticking with my goal so far. 
• Driving two of my elderly friends to lunch and then attending a Sunday afternoon Little Rock Wind Symphony concert with them. I am honored to be friends of these incredible people, who I visit with about twice a year when I am in town. They are well-travelled and well-read, and always have interesting things to talk about. We tried a new Thai restaurant and then heard some wonderful music by Beethoven, Mozart, Scott Joplin, and a jazzy new composition. 
• Teaching a temporary, new piano student. I met him last week at a local chess club. He's close to my age and was interested in beginning piano lessons. He's had some musical background, so I'm giving him a few "starter" lessons before I leave town. Not only was the lesson enjoyable, but it is also a good feeling at the end of a lesson when I know the other person has learned something that will bring them enjoyment and satisfaction.

An actor, director, teacher of theatre arts:

I didn't do much this weekend so I would have to say fixing dinner for my girlfriend and her two daughters. Because cooking is something I know how to do and doing something you're good at is always...good. Except that that now has me wondering how I would feel about doing something I'm not good at...mmmm.

A graphic artist with a heart of gold:

actually, the ironing was not bad
    taking my daughter, my granddaughter and a pal to an evening Pasadena Pops with Michael Feinstein and ordering dinner boxes ahead...was quite satisfying as well.
    why? oh for heavens sake!

An adventurous traveler and recorder of what he experiences:

What: I ran the fastest half-mile I have clocked in the past two years.
    Why the satisfaction: This means I may manage to outrun my stepdaughter for one more month.

A string musician and impresario:

On February 10th, my boss at the Sofia Philharmonic accused me of not putting my writing talents at the service of his Phil the Bear idea. It was the first I had heard of my writing talents being needed for his Phil(harmonic) Bear idea.
    A few days later I sketched a scenario for the Phil in the Phorest concert for children. It was fun to see how my script was transformed through the reader's imaginative changes and additions, but in the end the actual performance seemed a kind of hotch-potch of story, stage movement, and oh yeah, a little bit of music seemingly tacked on. So when I wrote the Phil learns to read scenario I made an effort to integrate the music into the story by establishing that Phil is a bear in "harmony" with the world because of the music that he hears in his head. Music that the musicians on stage are there to make audible for everyone.
    The actual performance was Sunday and the improvement in the quality of the overall product was noticeable to everyone, especially me, which should be obvious to anyone reading this, because I have just taken the time to write about it as my most satisfying accomplishment since Friday.

A wilderness explorer and classical musician:

I started working on the third movement of the Mozart Cm Sonata. It’s going pretty well. Satisfaction? Until recently “Allegro Assai” translated roughly as “Abandon all hope, ye who enter.”
    Second, I went to a Joan Baez concert. Satisfaction? Pure two-hanky nostalgia. Hearing “Suzanne” again was worth the (considerable) price of admission. Remember how tickets to her concerts used to be $3, so everyone could afford to come? She don’t do that no more.....The lady appears hale and hearty, though she’s become an Alto.

The only person in the group older than I am:

I wrote a chapter in my book. The why it gave me so much satisfaction: I seem to have less time to do it than I thought I would when I retired.

A man of letters and photographic art:

Other than a photo I took of the new Bay Bridge to San Francisco, my shot of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge [shown at top] was my most satisfying effort of the weekend. They both communicate the feel of a late Spring evening in the place I love living.

A talented professional woman and boating enthusiast:

I got a paddleboard for my birthday but I have not had much opportunity to use it. I've been feeling pretty bad about that lately, and made an effort to use it over Memorial Day but the weather did not really cooperate so I didn't have much fun with it. This past weekend I got to use it Saturday and Sunday and I feel like I am really getting the hang of how to paddle and control it. I even got it to move sideways on Sunday—which was pretty cool actually! I was trying to get up next to the boat to get of the board so I tried it and it worked. Only went maybe a foot but it worked really well. Though I did end up dropping it on my big toe when I was pulling it out of the water at the end of the weekend!

And then, what about you? We invite you to join us and say in a comment below what recent accomplishment has given you the most satisfaction. And tell us why.
    Thank you much!
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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean

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