New Year's Fireworks

At the start of the year is the perfect time for reflection on what you have, what you have accomplished, and what you want to do.

I do not like the traditional New Years Resolutions, instead i prefer goal making with much more specific goals, and projects with defined steps, and expected outcomes.

When I start my yearly review I am looking at a few things:

  1. What are my core values?
  2. What relationships are important to me?
  3. Do my mission and vision statements still hold true?
  4. What are my blessings?
  5. What did I accomplish last year?
  6. What challenges did I overcome?
  7. What are my goals for the coming year?

My yearly review process looks examines my values, relationships, projects, and goals.  It also allows me to chart a course for the year.

The first question I ask is what are my core values?  I look at the core values, which underly my mission and vision statement, and examine if they still have the same meaning for me.  Then I write down the answers.

Next, I decide what relationships are the most important.  I compare them to what I have listed in my mission and vision statement.  I will also review at least some of the weeks of the preceding year, and see what relationships I chose to make important, looking for patterns.

After examining my values and relationships, I read through my Mission and Vision statements, and revise them if needed.

I next ask what are my blessings? In this step I am trying to capture in one place everything I have that I am thankful for. At the start of the year an attitude of gratitude is important.

I next ask myself what did I accomplish in the last year? This is the step where I look at the goals and projects I created for myself and examine how close to completion each project is. I am looking to determine how much of the project has been completed, and how much is left.

My next question is what challenges did I face in the previous year?  I use my journal entries from the previous year, as well as any other challenges I can remember.  I am looking for patterns, or obstacles to success.  Some of these reoccurring obstacles are caused by me, while others will be external.  My goal is to find the ones I can prevent in the future.

The last step for my yearly review is to decide what projects, and goals I wish to carry over to the new year.  Projects sometimes become irrelevant, or less important as time progresses, while with others life can cause us to abandon.  The yearly review is a great time to recommit to completing the projects.

The yearly review process allows me to recognize successes and failures in the previous year, learn from the experiences, close out projects that have been abandoned, and chart a course for the coming year’s success.

I recommend using a journal in a quiet area to ask the questions and write down the answers to the questions posed in the yearly review.