Wrap Up The Year With These 3 Simple Questions

Wrap Up The Year With These 3 Simple Questions

I love the festive season. Really love it. The luxurious abundance of buying gifts for loved ones, the smell of freshly baked fruit mince pies, the excuse to eat and drink up – sans guilt. What I don’t love as much is the frenetic ‘get it done by Christmas’ rush. For many of us, this deadline exists only in our own minds but it never escapes me, and it never fails to bring on a month-long adrenalin rush.

One important thing I always make time to do is to step back and take a moment to reflect on the year that was. Even if it’s after the mad dash to Christmas Day, when things start to slow down.

It’s a time to ask yourself the hard questions about the year in review. And to answer them with brutal honesty, for the sake of your own self awareness and ongoing growth. To sit with those questions, and perhaps a drink in your hand, and hope there will be an ‘A-ha’ moment of what needs to change. Here are 3 key questions I ask at the end of every year, and why.

Where did I spend my energy and time this year, and how did that work for me?

Time is a valuable commodity. We all have the same amount of time in each day. And how you choose to spend your time can be a game changer in your day-to-day and overall experience of how you ‘do life’. This year was a little different, so this is an interesting question for all of us. Because with change came opportunity.

So, did you continue with your ‘routine’ or did you review how you could really make the most of changing things for a better result. Were you present and kind to your kids during home-schooling? Or take the opportunity to finally make time for exercise in lieu of travel time to work? Did you use the time to address your development areas through online courses or coaching? If you had your time again, what might you change? These answers will give you a big hint for your 2021 goals and planning.

Did I do my best to engage with every important element in my life?

We make many choices every day. Choices about what to eat, where to spend our time and money, the mindset we approach each activity with, how we speak to those around us. Sometimes, we make good choices that work out well. Other times, choices may end up being counterproductive and lead to stress, anxiety or confusion. This is important to understand because our lives are defined by the choices we make. Even when we do not choose, we made a choice not to. And the choices we make today will show up in our experiences in the future.

So, list the areas of your life that are important. It might be something like: family, health, fitness, friends, wealth, job, team, bucket list, spirituality, self-development. List them all and critically review what and how you engaged in every single aspect. If you’re not sure, ask for feedback. Your partner, children or coach are likely to be honest with you if you ask with the right intention and an open mind. And for those areas where you scored ‘low’, ask yourself why. What’s the block here, and what are you going to do to make this better? Push yourself with accountable goals.

Did I live my year according to my personal values?

You said what? You don’t know what your values are? Well, there’s your starting point. Defining your values is so critical in a world where our time and energy is torn between so many conflicting elements. Taking the time to define and understand your five or six key personal values will help inform your thoughts, decisions and actions, and help align your career or life path with what's important to you. They're the essential foundation of finding your life purpose, because they remind us – and others – who we truly are.

It’s not unusual for people who are feeling ‘burned out’ or ‘dissatisfied’ to have an epiphany. Because when you’re not working in alignment with your personal values, you diminish your chances of finding satisfaction in each aspect of your life – like that negative domino effect.?When I did this exercise a few years ago after feeling misaligned with corporate life, my light bulb moment quickly came when freedom and creativity came up as two of my personal values.

Life’s too short

If there was ever a time to take stock of your life and how you’re living it, it was in 2020. So let’s at least give 2020 credit for forcing this ‘life review’ on us, and forcing us to look at the things that really matter. And, for many, the chance to get back to basics and start to rebuild those rocky foundations. Foundations that were holding on by a very tattered thread. So, grab your diary or journal, get yourself that drink, and get to work. And give yourself a merry little Christmas.

?About the Author

Ainsley Jeffery is co-founder and director at www.noacoach.com

Andrew Williams

Author | Speaker | Facilitator | Executive and Team Coach | Experimenter | Leadership Agility | Adaptive Leadership | Purposeful Teams | Non Executive Director The United Project

3 年

What’s one experiment you can put in place to advance your leadership practice or any practice for that matter.

Ainsley Jeffery

Leadership & Change Facilitator // Organizational Coach

3 年

As we were discussing Kathryn Rogers

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