Did you accomplish your priorities in 2019?
Are you shocked at how fast 2019 has flown by? Anything that happened in 2019 is now history and there is nothing you can do to change it. The end of the year is a great time to relive and reflect on 2019 and use what you learned to shape 2020 into your best year ever.
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you go through this reflection journey. I encourage you to jot down what comes to mind.
- What did I do really well this year?
- What was my proudest accomplishment?
- What relationships did I grow?
- Was I focused on the most important things that only I can do?
- Did I make progress on my most significant goals?
- What did I not do very well?
- What regrets do I have or wish I could do over?
- What does this teach me?
- How will this change what I do in the future?
- What does this tell me about what I need to work on?
Ask these questions and jot down answers as you review your year month by month. Use your calendar to bring back the memories, look at the appointments, think about the interactions you had, and impact you had on people’s lives - both good and bad. Review your journal, if you have one, and reflect on what you wrote. Pull out the pictures you took over the year and take a journey down memory lane. Think about the vacations, holidays, and family interactions. Assess your effectiveness as a leader remembering that leadership is an influence and we all influence ourselves, as well as those we interact with. Think about how you felt when these events happened. Relive the joys, sorrows, and regrets. As you are doing this, jot down your thoughts and feelings. Be honest with yourself.
Set aside quality think and reflect time to be able to immerse yourself and experience the past year again. This can be a life changing experience and you are likely to be amazed at the depth of emotions you will feel. You will also be amazed at the perspective you gain when reliving these experiences with the perspective of elapsed time.
Do this over several days to allow the thoughts to grow and develop. Don’t hurry the process but realize that the process is what will generate the learning and development.
As you do this, begin to think about what this means for you in 2020. What you do in the new year will become shaped by this process and what it teaches you. You cannot change what has happened, but you can change who you are in the future.
Finally, read on to see how to take these learnings and use them to set the foundation for a great 2020.
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