It’s not quite over yet, and I bet it hasn’t all been easy.
Let me guess, this year has served up some some highs; I’m quite sure it will also have delivered a few lows too. There will have been unexpected twists and turns that you could not have imagined and you will probably have done something that you have never done before. You have been disappointed, and there will have been some nice surprises too.
There’s still a few weeks left, so don’t write off this year if it has been a tough one for you. Instead, let’s see what has happened this year and how you can convert those experiences and recognise what they have delivered for you, so that you can look back and see this year as amongst the best.
As I prepare to do my own grand review of the year I will be using these questions to help me reflect, draw learning and position myself for incredible progress next year.
- As we near the end of the year, what can you do now that you couldn’t do before the year started?
- Specifically what have you done for the first time this year and how has it helped you?
- When did you confront fear this year, and how’d has that experience shaped you?
- List some successes of the year
- What challenge have you overcome this year and what did you learn about yourself in the process?
- Who has come into your life this year and how are they influencing you?
- What did you try for the first time, and how did it go?
- If you had to sum the year so far up in three words, what would they be?
- What feedback have you received from others, and how have you used that feedback?
- What went better than you thought?
- What have you struggled with and what caused that struggle?
- How does this year position you to have an ever better year, next year?
Asking yourself these questions and reflecting on the answers will undoubtedly help you to see how the amazingly rich experiences of the year have equipped you for an incredible future. You might like to invite a colleague to conduct your annual review with you; sometimes another person’s perspective will highlight more valuable learning and insights, and of course it will give your colleague the chance to ask themselves the same questions too.