Year-End Review

Every year I do a year-end review. Why? I do it because in order to get where I'm going I have to:

a. have an aim (detailed and defined). People that don't have an aim only drift through life.

b. know where I am in relation to that aim

c. know how I got where I am so I can duplicate what is going well, and avoid duplicating what isn't going well.

What does that look like? It looks like this:

What went well? Celebrate the wins!

What didn't go well?

What will I do differently?

What (specifically) do I want to accomplish by next December?

This is actually a good review formula for anything we do. I use this same formula to evaluate all of my results in business, in parenting, in relationships.

But it's the writing it down that makes the process so powerful. As Jordan B. Peterson writes in his new book, Beyond Order, 12 More Rules for Life, when we can encode our experience into language, we can extract a causal theory from it. WRITE IT DOWN

When I have my goals written down, I break them down into habits. What habits do I need to establish to make this happen? What habits do I need to break?

As James Clear explains in his book, Atomic Habits, successful habit formation and breaking depends on environment.

Wanted habits: make them obvious and easy to do. Stack wanted habits on the back of already establish positive habits.

Unwanted habits: make them invisible and hard to do.

Key to making this habit useful: honesty. Be totally honest. Do not hide unwanted things in the fog. It does not serve anyone.

Then I connect to why. Why would I change anything next year? What would my life be like in 12 months if I make these changes? What would my life be like if I don't? This is the part when I get into the emotions of living the new vision.

Will you take advantage of this powerful tool as the year comes to an end? Why not try it and see what happens?

I hope you will.

Merianne

P.S. If you like this post, make sure to like it and head over to my blog post entitled "Ship without a rudder" to learn about another yearly ritual I use to keep me on course.