People are different, and knowing yourself is key to knowing the answer to whether carrying out an end of year review and goal setting practice is useful to you - for me I know the answer is yes.
Knowing this, over the last few years I have tried to ensure I carry out some kind of "end of year review" in preparation for starting the new year afresh. I like the steps suggested in this article, and think I might try to follow them on the afternoon I've taken off work in a couple of weeks to assess my year and plan goals for my next year (as well as try to finish my Christmas shopping and wrapping - maybe I'm reaching a little too high for that one afternoon off!!)
Whilst I know taking time to reflect, to plan and to monitor progress makes a great difference to my productivity and state of mind, both at work and home, it is often easy to get lost in the "busyness" and not make time to take any of these actions. One goal I'm certain will be on my list for next year will be to carry out a monthly review of the previous month and reassess my goals/plans for the month that follows (in order to do this I am going to place a calendar entry once a month (in both my home and work calendars so I can't ignore it)).
To stop and reprogram these automatic reactions we must catch ourselves in the moment of a vicious cycle. This is extremely hard work. A reflection practice allows us to set up a plan to stop the automatic response when it’s triggered. We can reflect on many different levels, but the best place to start is in reflecting on the past year. This higher level view will help us see the bigger patterns we have, the good and the bad. Once we see them, we can find positive ways to change them. What do you think? Want to give it a try?
unknownx500
