I find the end of the year a good time to take stock of my personal history business. I set aside a day and look at my successes and the things that didn’t work. I make a point of writing this all down. It’s an important exercise that holds me accountable and keeps me growing as a professional. Why not take some time and do your own year-end review? A word of caution. Don’t beat yourself up for perceived failures but at the same time don’t sweep them under the rug. Here are the questions I ask myself. What questions would you add? Let me know. I’d like to hear from you.
- What has worked this year?
- Why has it worked?
- What have I learned from my successes?
- How will I apply this learning to next year?
- What hasn’t worked this year?
- Why hasn’t it worked?
- What have I learned from my failures?
- How will I apply this learning to next year?
- What do I need to do more of?
- What do I need to do less of?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied am I with my performance this year?
- What do I need to do to push my satisfaction level higher?
- Where do I want to be at this time next year?
- What do I have to do to get there?
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Excellent advice!
For me, most important is to clearly identify specific goals and their relative priority. I’ll be doing this after the holidays when I can take some time to solidify my thinking. Before setting 2011 goals I evaluate my “progress” on those for 2010, using questions similar to those you listed. To some extent I’ve been doing that all along during the year, but I find tremedous value in dedicating time solely to this review. I decide what goals I wish to keep/change/add based upon my evaluation and in the knowledge that I have limited time and resources.
I don’t run a business, but I find goal-setting helps me to keep focus and make progress.
@Linda. Thanks for your very useful comments, Linda.