New Year, New Me? No, Thanks

I don't make New Years’ Resolutions.

If you want to make changes in your life, you don’t need to wait until Monday, or the start of the month, or the start of the year.

But, as this year is coming to an end, I do think it's a great time to look back, reflect and see just how far you’ve come over the past 12 months.

Because anyone else feel like this year has flown by?

Sometimes, time goes by so fast, it's easy to forget everything that's happened, all the progress we've made and what we've achieved this year.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re so often focused on the next goal or the next project, that there often doesn’t feel like there’s time to take a moment to look back.

But, there are a few reasons why it's an important thing to do -

• ??I don’t know anyone who celebrates their successes enough. Everyone should do more of it. It’ll keep you motivated through the tough times, and remind you just how far you’ve already come if any self-doubt starts to creep in.
• It refocuses your goals. Have you ever got to the end of a week that’s been super busy, only to realise you’ve not actually done any work on the projects you’re supposed to be focusing on? Looking back on where you’ve been spending your time and attention allows you to make sure you’re still heading in the right direction moving forward.
• ? It’ll help you better manage your time in the future. If you can reflect on where you spent your time and attention in the past, you’ll have a better understanding of what requires additional focus, and what can be ignored, in the future.
• It gives you a solid foundation of your areas for development over the next 12 months. Just like in any other job, an appraisal is the time for your to identify your strengths and weaknesses and find ways of learning, developing and growing.

There are a million different templates or models you can use to do your own end of year review and there's no right or wrong way, but if you want to learn and grow from it, you've got to start by addressing the failures.

So, set aside an hour or two, and work through the following questions -

1 - Top Three Biggest Failures of 2023

What went wrong? What didn't work? What really, really hurt this year? .Remember, failure is just an opportunity to learn & grow.

2 - What did you learn from these failures?

3 - Biggest Wins of 2023?

4 - How did you achieve them?

5 - Who helped you achieve them?

Gratitude is always good. Remember to thank those people.

6 - Top Five Time Stealers?

What activities, tasks, distractions, people & things stole your time & took you away from focusing on the things your really wanted to be working on?

7 - How can you avoid them going forward?

Can you delegate or automate these things? Are they necessary for you to be doing or can you outsource them, or avoid doing them entirely?

8 - What are the biggest lessons you've learned this year?

9 - And what do you still need to learn to improve next year?

10- Overall, how would you describe your past 12 months?

And finally, this time next year, how would you like to describe 2024?

Have a great holiday season,

Dean