Review, Reflect, and Design

History often repeats itself. Why you quit your first diet is likely why you’ll quit your next one. The New Year’s resolution you failed to complete last year will likely be your resolution this year. But how do you avoid making the same mistakes?

You learn from your past successes and failures.

Before marching blindly into the next year/challenge/month, the first and most important activity is to look back at the year just finished. Take an inventory, add it all up, and see how you did.

In this edition, we will learn how to examine your past successes and failures through a vital process I learned from John, which I call “reflect, review and design. This process and considerations have come directly from my application of what John C. Maxwell has taught me through the years.

Experience is not the best teacher. Evaluated experience is.

And the best time to capture that experience is in the last week of the year when all your busyness and daily distractions are on winter break.?

As the new year approaches, it is the perfect time to set aside some time to review your year so you can take into 2024 the lessons you have learned, celebrate the wins you enjoyed, and recalibrate to move closer to your goals.

Every year I set aside time to go back over my calendar and review my year. I spend the last days of the year thinking through the good, bad, and ugly so I am not held back by last year’s mistakes, mishaps, and baggage. Instead, I start with a fresh slate. It’s a habit I’ve developed over the years, and it’s one of the biggest in terms of setting me up for success.

I look at every day in my calendar and evaluate:

• What was the main thing I scheduled that day?
• What turned out to be the main thing that day?
• What deserved more of my time?
• What deserved less?

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Review, Reflect, and Design

• Timing:? Set aside 2-3 hours with a pad and pen.
• Bring: ? Have with you your mission, values, previous calendar,? goals, and your Coaching 3.0 workbook.
• Process:?What were your top three 2023 priorities? When you look at your calendar, make sure your activities match your top three to four priorities. Review your calendar for each month. Review your appointments, the people you met with, meetings you attended, and write down the most impactful lessons you learned.? Continue the same process for each month.?

Review ?

1. Identify last year's priorities

• What was the goal?
• Did you accomplish it?
• If so, what are the key things that led you to your success?
• If not, what did you learn from going after this goal?

2. My wins for the year

• Three greatest lessons I’ve learned from 2023 (defeats)
• Who added value to me (send them a note thanking them)

3. Five greatest happenings from 2023

• I am most proud of these three accomplishments...
• Three personal improvements I have made in 2023 are...
• If I could go back and do it again, I would do these three things differently...
• The greatest influences (products, people, viewpoints, other) on me in this year...
• Smartest decision I made this year...
• Biggest risk taken this year...
• Most important relationship improved this year...
• One word that best sums up and describes this year’s experience... ?

4. My Returns

Of all the reflecting you can do on your year, this one most reveals how much you’ve grown over the past 12 months.

• What outcomes did your choices produce?
• Did those outcomes satisfy you?
• Did they move you forward toward your goals?
• If not, what outcome would have been more satisfying, and how can you chase that down?

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You see, the return you get for the choices you make can either keep you hungry and willing to move forward or drain your energy and keep you stagnant. When you take the time to think about what gives you your best return, you will be better positioned to chase that return from day one.

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Reflect

What discoveries have I made with my calendar? Reflect on all of your findings.

• What should I do less or eliminate in my life?
• What should I do more or embrace in my life?
• Who should I share this with?
• What can I do to improve this?
• What do I feel? What do I know? What do I think?

Here are some crucial discoveries I have made from my calendar:

• Activity is not an accomplishment.
• Growth is not automatic.
• You are not going to grow just because you had a busy day.
• Reflection turns experience into insight.
• The fastest doesn’t win; it’s the person who starts first. On January 1st, I am already running.
• Inspection is the foundation for expectation.

Design

Knowledge doesn’t change anything. You have to know and then be willing to make changes. You’ve got to be able to touch the past before you can deal with the future. Finally, plan, design, and begin scheduling things for next year with all of that in mind.

• What must be changed?
• What needs more fuel?
• Who do I need help from?

Begin scheduling things.

As leaders, beginning the year strong helps us to springboard into the New Year and model growth for our family, friends, and teams.

And I’d just like to say this as a word of encouragement to you. Maybe the year has felt more like a roller coaster than a walk in the park! Maybe you’ve felt uncertain about how to move forward in your relationships, responsibilities, and returns. If so, I truly believe investing some time to reflect, review, and design your plan for the coming year will significantly shape your success in the year to come.

My wish for you this new year is that you enjoy great health, joy, love, growth, success, and leadership.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you this year. It is my highest honor to serve leaders like you around the world.

Yours in growth,

?Leyda