The end of the year is in sight and that means one thing. Time to look back over the past year and acknowledge the good, the bad and the ugly so you can move on to be even better! In this post, I will be walking you through some questions to get you started with reviewing your year.
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I believe you should never stop learning and you should see life as a continual lesson.
Now as we head towards the end of the year it is a natural time to take a moment and reflect on the past year. So grab a journal, a piece of paper or a fresh page on your computer and let’s reflect.
Question 1 – Did I achieve everything I set out to achieve this year?”
Hopefully at the beginning of the year you would have set some goals or New Year’s Resolutions. If you did then try that list and reflect on what you achieved and what you did. If you didn’t achieve something consider whether you lost sight of that goal, did you make progress but not quite get there, did you ever believe you could achieve that goal? Could you have done anything more to achieve that goal this year?
Question 2 – “What made this year great (that I hadn’t planned for?)”
Whilst I LOVE PLANNING. The truth is that along the year things will change. For example, this year I joined Marie Forleo’s B-School. My plan had been to invest in 1 course at the beginning of the year, but I had no idea. Taking that course resulted in the direction of by business changing, connecting with lots of amazing people and me joining a wonderful mastermind.
Question 3 – What didn’t I achieve this year that I would still like to achieve?
Sometimes we have goals on our list that shouldn’t really be there. When you keep on writing down the same goal every year I call it a déjà vu goal. For years I used to write down I want to drink 2 litres of water today… but really I had no vested interest in that goal. I was setting it because I knew I should. Now is a time to be honest with yourself. If you haven’t achieved a goal maybe your heart isn’t really in it so cross it off your list BUT if you didn’t achieve something and genuinely want to achieve it then make a note so you can use it for your 2018 planning.
Question 4 – What did this year teach me?
Whilst achieving is important I also use this time to reflect more generally. You shouldn’t be living the same year twice so what has a year taught you. It could be something small, but write it down so you can remember in the future. For example, this year I had an operation on my knee. The experience taught me how much I value me independence and how important my health is.
So that is it! There are four questions to get your started on your end of your review. Now these are just suggestions to get your started. You can ask yourself none of them, some of them or all of them. The important thing is to take a moment to look back over the year and reflect on the positive and the negative before heading into a new year!
I would love to know in the comments below what has been a highlight of your 2017!