Now that the year is almost officially at a close it’s time to take a look at the last twelve months and see how far you’ve come. It’s the time to review your year and be brutally honest about your progress. But, remember, progress can be made in the smallest of steps, so don’t feel demotivated because this year hasn’t been ‘your year’ that’s what next year is for. By analyzing the last year with these seven questions you’ll be actually planning for what you can do and how you can do it better next year!
1. Did you complete all of your goals?
It’s ok if you didn’t manage to get round to them all, sometimes life just gets a little too hectic and there are other things that need our attention. But that’s why I set probably about two main goals at the start of the year and then create a plan to achieve them throughout the next twelve months. This way you’ll be more likely to achieve the goals you’ve set because you’ve been smart and realistic about it.
2. What were the strengths of your plan?
You need to make a list of all the things that went right with your plans last year. What steps were the best ones to take? How did they help you on the road to achieving your goals? From this, you can highlight the strengths in your plan and put them to good use for next year. It can take a long time for people to find out what works, so once you’ve figured out at least one process of it then don’t let it go!
3. Where were the weaknesses in your plan?
By listing your strengths it will outline your weaknesses. You can even say that something was going really well until one thing went wrong and that’s your mistake. It’s a weak link in the chain that you weren’t prepared for. But you’ve spotted it and next year it won’t be a weak link because you’ve highlighted where you went wrong and what you need to do to avoid that in the future. But, remember, mistakes are human and it’s ok to make them, just always make sure that you’re learning from them.
4. Were you being smart with your goals?
I’ve already mentioned about being realistic with your goals and only setting about two main ones at the start of the year. This will mean you will actually be working towards them for the rest of the year with a bulletproof plan. But were you being smart with them? I bet you worked really hard but is there a way you can work smarter and not harder? And by setting SMART goals you’ll be making, tracking and achieving your goals a lot easier. and a lot better. Find out how to set them here.
5. Is your strategy working?
You may have thought that your plan and strategy were really untouchable. You may have really believed it would have worked for you, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. That’s why you need to at least half a dozen plan Bs ready to go where you have another strategy ready to go. If something doesn’t work the first time, don’t be afraid to keep trying. All you will need to do is restrategize and come up with a better way to tackle your goals. It will really help you when it comes to your business life too as it will turn you into an unstoppable, logical thinker who only does something with value and purpose!
6. What more could you have done?
That’s usually the question on top of all our tongues. I’m always wondering if what I’ve done is enough and if there is anything I could have done more. And it’s an important question to ask yourself. If in your heart of hearts you feel like there is nothing you could have done more then try and ask yourself this again and really think about it. Pull apart your plan, step outside your box and most importantly your comfort zone. Because you will realize there is always something you could have done more. Always!
7. How did you react to failure?
If you didn’t react well, say you cried because of it or got demotivated then this is something you can definitely improve on. But don’t worry, sometimes pressure can get on top of us and as we are only human it’s ok to have a bad day. But, if you find you have a lot more bad days than good then you need to figure out how you can bounce back from this. Failure is never going to disappear, it will chase you until the end of the earth, but don’t fear it and be prepared for it and you’ll be just fine!
How did your year go? Let us know in the comments section below…
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