Conduct A Yearly Review
Time for Change? Forget Good Resolutions, instead start by asking yourself few questions.
Forget Making Good Resolutions
We usually are better at seeing what was wrong. So instead of taking good resolutions by the end of the year, which you will most likely forget soon after, I suggest writing down a year’s review. Simply take a moment to ask yourself few questions and look back at what stands out from the past year, what you would modify, what you would like to improve, as well as what to limit or avoid…
Don’t wait for December
You don’t have to wait until the end of the year to look back, you can do quarterly reviews and also you can do a project post-mortem while closing important projects using similar questions to guide your retrospective.
Questions to Guide your Self-Review
More, Less: Making Time for Activities aligned with your values.
- What do you want to spend MORE time and energy on?
- What do you want to spend LESS time and energy doing?
Simplify: Identify Aspects of your day-to-day life that can be simplified. Think about streamlining processes and decluttering your lifestyle.
- What can you change to simplify your day to day life?
- What can you adjust to simplify your life in the years to come?
High, Low: Surround yourself with inspiring people, distance yourself from toxic persons.
- Who pulled you down?
- Who lifted you up?
Obstacles and Allies: turn obstacles into opportunities for self-development, find allies along the way.
- What has been blocking you ? Internal / External
- What has been helping you going forward ? Internal / External
Learning, Personal Development and Change
- What new practices or experiences do you want to explore in the coming year?
- How can you incorporate continuous learning into your typical week?
Self-Care
- What self-care practices can you add into your typical week?
- How can you find time for deep work and quality moments into your daily routine?
Vision
- Who do you want to become? Visualise Where and How you see yourself in the future.
- How can you get it? What’s the most important decision supporting your Vision?
- What can you do daily to move into this direction? Breaking down your vision into daily actionable steps
These questions are provided to start a reflective retrospective. Feel free to add and adjust these to your specific situation. A more accurate self-awareness can help to clarify and visualise your vision for the future. Once clarified, you can draft a personal manifesto to further formulate your purpose. You can read an article on how-to draft your personal manifesto.
