Do A Year End Review and Skip The New Year’s Resolutions
When a calendar year comes to an end, it is natural and valuable to reflect on the year that is coming to a close. It’s not necessarily about goals, sometimes that trips people up and can get you off on the wrong foot. It’s actually more than that.
One thing I recommend, as I did for myself when I first started this exercise, is to remember that this is not meant to feed your inner critic or focus on what you have not done. This is self-defeating and very unmotivating. It’s not the best focal point or the best mindset to be in.
The best idea is to look at what you have accomplished, how you have grown, from a positive angle. So many people resist or even forget to celebrate all that they have done, now is the time if you aren’t very good about this.
Most people accomplish way more than they think they do!! It’s true!
Putting pen to paper can be very beneficial and even eye opening. At first it can be hard to think of things, I know it can be hard for some even on a quarterly basis so for a whole year can be a challenge. It can be difficult to remember what milestones, benchmarks or even obstacles you’ve blown past.
If it’s helpful to break the time period down into quarters or even months, then feel free to do that. Just make sure you look at the entire year before you finish this process.
If you need to look at your calendar, that’s always a good place to find what you’ve done. It’s also filled with data, about appointments you’ve had, events you’ve attended and/or calls you’ve made. It’s a fabulous way to look at how many calls you have made in a period of time.
So take a look at the year that is closing, and ask yourself what have you accomplished? What are the things you are especially proud of?
It’s not just about accomplishments either. How you’ve grown as a person on all the levels is also incredibly worth noting, sometimes that’s the hardest and most inspiring work of all. It’s not as obvious as the tasks you’ve done, and yet they are still there.
Before you go write those typical New Year’s Resolutions, the ones that you don’t keep for long anyway, take a productive and constructive look at the year coming to an end, it will make moving forward so much more successful and enjoyable.
Setting new goals, without reviewing previous ones, is counterintuitive to the progress you want to make, and that’s true for every area of your life, not just finances. Every area of your life including and not limited to: business/career, relationships, fun, family, spiritual development, income, wealth, education, personal growth.
This year end review will give you a big picture view of what the year looked like for you, and it will also help to reveal what you want the new one to look like. Some of the questions to ask yourself that I like to suggest are:
- are these items on your list in line with what you set out to do? If so great. If not see if you can determine where you got distracted or diverted from your attention.
- pinpoint as best you can what you did not get to, without beating yourself up about it.
I no longer make New Year’s Resolutions, nor do I suggest my clients do either and that is because they don’t typically stick past the month of February. You aren’t going to resolve to lose 10 pounds or double your income. That’s not the most effective approach to take. There’s more to it than that.
A typical corporate yearend review is about performance when looking back and improvement looking ahead, often with an emphasis on the negative aspects of them. While this can be important, it is still limiting and not always motivating for the individual, which is why some companies are moving away from them.
Accomplishments. Growth, in performance yes and also mentally, psychologically, emotionally which is growing in importance in the workforce and for entrepreneurs rapidly. These are all elements to consider.
A year end review can be fun, enlightening and highly motivating for what’s to come. I know that’s why I do them. Wouldn’t you like a bit of that too!
Maureen Considine is Founder and CEO of Finding Your Way Coaching. A Master Coach with expertise in Income Acceleration, Business Development, Sales and Mindset, she is the Wealth Health Creation Strategist for entrepreneurs, executives, and other high performers. Maureen has over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing. She has helped hundreds of clients grow their businesses and reach their true potential using her unique, intuitive, and holistic approach. Maureen has a B.A. in Psychology, with training in mindset and the Psychology of Sales.
