Yes, it’s time for holiday cookies, snowmen, gatherings (as long as they are indoors with your family or outdoors with 10 or less), and most importantly, reflection and goal setting.
Let’s be honest, 2020 has been a “rebuilding” year, as they say in sports. It has been a year of listening, learning, and rebuilding to create a better future. Whether worldwide or right in our homes, 2020 has forced us all to make changes in our daily lives to better ourselves and to adapt to the new world we are living in now.
First, let’s reflect on 2020. Yes, this year has been incredibly heavy and hard for everyone, but in order to appreciate the highs in life, we must also respect and acknowledge the lows.
One of the best ways to reflect is to create a list of questions to ask yourself. Below are 3 of my go-to questions that I ask myself when I need to reflect on the past.
My top 3 questions are just an example of questions you can ask yourself. There are various others that you can create which may be more specific to business or relationships. I try to base my questions on my energy and overall personal growth which are how I measure my “success”. Sure, I ask myself questions which are geared towards future business plans, too, but the most important question for me is to reflect back on the person I was going into the year and who I am ending the year. I strive to continually have a positive influence on others, and to meet other like-minded individuals, as well as build both my confidence and comfort in my own skin as I go through changes during the year.
What comes after reflection? Goal setting! Once we have reflected on how our year went, it’s time to set up an action plan to achieve what we want in the upcoming year.
A simple but effective goal setting method is to use the SMART method - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time. When setting goals for ourselves, we need to consider all the above, otherwise goals can become too daunting or their opposite: too easy to attain.
Another goal setting method I use for both myself and my clients is to create a pyramid of goals. For example, I create small daily, weekly, and monthly goals in order to achieve my yearly goal. I love this method as I am someone who can get easily overwhelmed, and having a list of small goals I can achieve keeps me motivated and on track to help me reach my big goal at the end of the year.
Goal setting is unique to each person as everyone measures success differently. Typically, we all tend to focus on financial or career goals, myself included. However, after the year of uncertainty 2020 provided, I must also emphasize the importance of mental and emotional wealth. I use the word “wealth” as I hope by the end of 2021 that I will have been able to share and influence many others to become more aware of their emotional and mental wellbeing; that they learn there is more to life than simply making “x” amount of money and/or obtaining “y” status. How we feel and how we make others feel are on top of my priority list come this 2021 as 2020 has proven that life is unpredictable, short, and precarious. I believe that by goal setting, you are investing in yourself and that will ultimately impact your life performance in a positive way.
