The best gift you can give yourself this holiday season is to look back at your year and learn from it! Celebrating achievements and learning from goals not reached provide the foundation for realistic and meaningful change. Before diving into 2022 resolutions and goals, find some quiet time to reflect on 2021 using these three steps.
Step One
Always start on a positive note in a Year in Review. On your computer or in a notebook, document your achievements. Go through your calendar and think about each month, creating a list of your personal and professional achievements. They can be goals met or simply opportunistic wins. These are your success stories, big and small. Now celebrate! 2021 has been a tough year for the entire world and you have achieved some milestones.
Step Two
Dig deep and capture all the ups and downs of your year. In all the year-end activities we tend to spend more time on To Do lists than on self-reflection. So, I’ve created a list of Year in Review Questions to help inspire introspection.
What are your top three achievements? How did you feel when you met those marks?
Which goals or needs did you not meet? What got in the way?
What were your biggest frustrations? What did you do to address them?
What were your top lessons learned?
When were you hard on yourself? How did that help?
What do you wish you had spent more time on? What stopped you?
Who made you feel happy and strong? Who did not?
What steps have you taken to improve your health? What was the outcome?
How have you celebrated?
What has made you feel grateful? How did you show your gratitude?
How have your experiences changed your view of next year?
Step Three
Time to celebrate again. Not only have you learned a great deal this year, but you have invested the time to review and recognize those lessons. You are now in a strong position to set goals for 2022 that are realistic and achievable. While you have that calendar out, make a date with yourself to set new goals for 2022.