WANT A BETTER 2019? ASK THESE QUESTIONS AS 2018 ENDS

How many times do we get to the end of another year, hoping that next year will somehow be better?  How many of us frankly appraise ourselves and assess how things have gone for us in the year about to finish?

Reflection of the past leads to a better future. Even if we’ve had great years, we should still appraise and reflect on what has gone on for us, our career, business and personal lives. Skipping any meaningful reflection is a wasted opportunity to really hone in on making some improvements in the New Year.

Here is a simple set of questions that I recommend we all answer honestly of ourselves, for the year that is/was 2018:

For 2018, write down :

1. What worked well for you professionally?  (e.g. sales targets, promotion, product launch, business wins, staff success, other)

2. What wins did you have with your personal finances?

3. What were you happy about in your personal life?

4. What wins did you have with your health and fitness?

5. What did you enjoy doing more of, work or otherwise?

6. What did you do that was fun, spontaneous and exciting?

7. What lessons did you learn when things didn’t go so well at work?

8. What lessons did you learn when things didn’t go so well with things outside work?

9. What did you enjoy doing LESS of in 2018?

Write or type these down – don’t just answer the questions in your head. Writing answers to the questions will force you to gather your thoughts. This in turn leads us to gain clarity on the successes and non-successes of our year. With that clarity, we can replicate more of what worked – and eradicate the events and behaviours that led us to be less than successful.

Have a happy 2019!