12/10/2021
As we are nearing the end of the year, many people are taking time to review and reset. Are you?
Whether you are a business owner, manager, front-line employee, student, or parent, you can benefit from taking the time to review your year and plan for the next.
I’m not talking about setting New Year’s resolutions. We all know how easy those are to break. Am I right?
This is a more comprehensive look at where you’ve been, what you want to celebrate, what you learned, and then charting where you want to go.
The set up: Between now and New Year's Eve, take time away, even if it’s just a few hours (a day or two is better), where you can turn off your phone, have no distractions, and really think about these three questions:
1. What went well this year?
- Actions you took that yielded success or positive outcomes
- Achievements or wins you want to celebrate
- Marketing strategies that increased sales
- Personal things you did that you feel great about
2. What could have gone better?
- Actions you took that did not go as planned or yield the
desired outcome
- Marketing strategies that did not produce
- Personal things you did (or didn’t do) that could have
provided more fulfillment
- Lessons learned from the “failures” from the year
3. What do I want/need to achieve next year?
- Set a maximum of 3 large goals (vision) for the year
- Brainstorm action steps you can take, resources you’ll need,
etc.
- Create sub-goals that are SMART-Y
You will want to have your calendar handy so you can review it to help remind yourself of everything that happened, both good and bad, throughout the year.
And when you get to question #3, let’s dig in a little... It can be easy to cast a big vision and set way too many goals. And let’s be honest. How many can you realistically focus on or achieve at once? Set three large goals. Goals that are a stretch, but not completely unrealistic. And if you achieve all three before the year is up, you can always set more goals!
Take a little time to think about what you’ll need – in broad strokes – to achieve your goals. What resources will you need, people you’ll need to involve, etc.
Set some sub-goals for each goal. Again, no more than 3-5, so it stays manageable. I know you’ve probably heard of SMART goals. Those are goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic (or Relevant), and Time-bound. I’ve got one more letter to add to the mix thanks to my friend Jennifer J. Patterson, MSOD and that’s “Y”. What is your why? Why is each goal a “must?” SMART goals are great, but when you tie them to a “why”, they become even more powerful.
These few steps can give you the opportunity to celebrate and learn from the year just ending and set you up for a great year to come.
