About this time each year, I start thinking about what the last twelve months has been about and what it might mean for my goals and aspirations for the next year. Recently, I went through an exercise that was especially helpful in looking back over the past year that I’d like to share with you. Going through this activity with the help of a good coach, led to a greater appreciation for all the year brought – both the good and the challenging – and helped me see things differently. You might want to try something similar to identify your “what worked” and “what didn’t work” aspects of 2018. With this information, you can then begin to visualize and plan for a meaningful and fulfilling 2019. Here’s the exercise.
To begin, give some thought to what your guiding principle or “center” has been for the year.
For some, it’s about centering around values, as described in this prior blog entry.
For others, it might be a personal mission or purpose statement. If you don’t have one and want to generate one, here’s an interesting article that might help.
Or, if you don’t feel especially attached to values, don’t have a personal mission or purpose statement, and don’t feel called to create one right now, that’s okay! Instead, just jot down a few quick statements about what is most important and meaningful to you at this point in life. Use prompts related to how you aspire to BE, what you most like or want to DO, and what things or experiences you would like to HAVE. For example:
| I would most like to BE like this: | Happy, peaceful, present |
| I would most like to DO things like: | Work less, exercise more, spend more time with family |
| I would most like to HAVE things like: | Peace of mind, more free time, more money in the bank |
Next, choose some categories of how you spend your time. If you did the Pie of Life exercise earlier this year, you probably already have those categories waiting. If not, here is that blog entry. Working from your list of ways-you-spend-your-time (or making up some new ones), choose 4 – 6 categories that you want to work with. For me, the categories I used were:
- Work
- Giving back
- Movement
- Trips
- Development
- Spiritual
Of course, you can use any categories you want.
Third, take some time to go back over your calendar to review (and remember!) all the things you did this past year – all the ways you spent your time. As you look back over your activities, begin to list those that stand out to you as most significant, by category. Of course, you’re not going to list EVERYTHING you did, so use your judgment about what makes the cut. For me, I ended up with a list of about 30 things – just enough to fit onto a single typed page. For you, it might be 10 or 15 items…or 50. That’s totally up to you.
Organize those activities by category, in order to begin to build a matrix. At this point, it would look something like this:
| Category | Activity |
|---|---|
| Work | Coaching groups XYZ Project |
| Giveback | ABC Workshop Volunteer at Agency Y |
| Movement | Dance Yoga |
| Trips | Europe California |
| Development | Class AA Workshop ZZ |
| Spiritual | Meditation Journaling |
It’s probably most useful if you have at least 3 items per category. If you don’t, that might be useful information in itself!
Next, after you’ve let this list sit for a day or two, then added or changed any of the activities or categories, take a look at all the ways you’ve been spending your time., Compare this to your values, purpose mission statement or BE/DO/HAVE statements. Then, give each activity a “grade” or a rating, (on a scale of 1 – 5 or 1 – 10). Again, you get to choose!
For example: I might look at the “XYZ Project” at work against my BE/DO/HAVE statements and discover that, while that project helped me to get “more money in the bank” it also led to overwork and less free time. So, I might give that a 5 out of 10 rating or a C+ if I’m grading.
Do this for all the activities on your list.
Then, let all of this sit for another day or two. If you’re lucky enough to have a good friend, coach, discussion partner or colleague who’s interested in this sort of thing, it’s a great idea to discuss your list and your observations about it with another person. If you can’t, or don’t want to review it with someone else, review it with yourself. Notice things like:
- Overall, what stands out to me?
- What do I want to celebrate about this list? (We often jump straight to “what do I need to change?” before pausing and noting what really worked for us. So, take the time to do that! Here’s an article explaining why this is so important: https://www.inc.com/bill-carmody/3-reasons-celebrating-your-many-accomplishments-is-critical-to-your-success.html)
- Which categories scored the highest? Why?
- What particular activities are at the top of my list? Why?
- What can I do to maintain these “top of the list” items and/or create more of them?
- Which categories scored the lowest? Why?
- What particular activities are at the bottom of my list? Why?
- What can I do to eliminate, minimize or mitigate these “bottom of the list” items?
For me, going through this process helped me recognize the things that “fit” my personal purpose statement most fully and enabled me to identify what changes I might make to create closer alignment. It also helped me see which things I’ve spent time on that are out of alignment that I can move toward minimizing. It also gave me a stronger sense of what to say “yes” to as we move into 2019.
So…give it a go! And, while you’re going through this process, keep it light and simple – not too serious or dramatic. One way to maintain a light, nonjudgmental touch on our year review is to summarize what you learn as simply as possible, perhaps through a “Six Word Story.” My reflection on the year, in six words, would be, “Let’s do this again next year!” I’d love to hear yours!
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.
T.S. Eliot