With Christa, the Christmas Elf with a Plan – 14 December
Christa is all dressed up for End of the Year Tip #14. It must be something really important. And I think she’s right. It is important to review our goals from last year. We need to gain insight about not just how well we performed at achieving our goals, but consider why we were successful or not so successful.
So let’s get into how we review our goals.
Reviewing Last Year’s Goals
Reflecting on the previous year’s goals is a valuable opportunity. We can celebrate our successes, big or small. Recognizing what factors contributed to our success can help us meet future goals. And identifying what kept us from fully completing a goal can also help us to plan for future success. We can use all we learn from reviewing our previous goals as we write new goal statements for the coming year.
Start your review by taking out your goals statements and tracking for the previous year. If you don’t have your goals formally documented, write them down on a sheet of paper and leave some room for notes. Make notes of all your reflections, so that you can put them to use later. As you review each of your goals, ask yourself the types of questions described below. Be honest, but also kind to yourself. We can learn from every outcome. Reflection is an opportunity to grow personally.
Status of Goal
Did you complete or make significant progress toward your goal? No matter, how big or small, celebrate the progress you’ve made. If the goal was completed, what contributed to your success? Identify and habits, tools, support or coach, your mindset, etc.
If you made some progress, but didn’t quite complete the goal, look for possible reasons you didn’t fully achieve your desired results. Was the goal too large? Did priorities change? Identify what is left to complete and determine if it still aligns with your priorities and values.
Do you have a goal on which you made little to no progress? Was the goal overwhelming? Did some unexpected obstacle block your path? Did your needs and priorities change? Does this goal have any place among your future goals?
Alignment with Priorities
I touched on this in the last section, but only with goals not fully met. Do these goals reflect your values? Or are they goals pursued out of habit, external pressure, or some past desires? Did they align with your priorities personally or professionally?
Challenges Faced
Identify and challenges you encountered. Challenges can be external, such as unexpected events. Internal challenges, such as procrastination or a lack of motivation, are often obstacles to achieving our goals. If you met the challenge and overcame it, how did you do so and how did it feel? How might you handle these challenges differently in the future?
Habits and Processes
We achieve goals by completing tasks and by changing our habits and routines. How did your habits and routines support or hinder your progress? Did you consistently track your habits and hold yourself accountable? Were new habits difficult enough to challenge you, but not so difficult they were impossible?
Adjustments Made
Did you make any changes to your goals or interim goals, if necessary? Were any changes made in a way that continued alignment with your priorities and higher goals?
Lessons Learned
Did you learn any new strategies? Or maybe strategies that didn’t work well? Record any insights you can carry forward and apply in planning future goals.
Impact, Growth, and Opportunity
What impact has completing, or not completing, these goals made in your life? How have you grown personally, professionally, in your relationships and overall well-being? What skills or strengths did you develop? Did any new opportunities or aspirations come to you? How have these new directions and ideas changed and shaped you over the year?
Summary
It is important to take the time to review our goals from the last year and perform a deep dive to gain insight. We can discover much about ourselves and how we tackle our goals. This insight will enable us to find even more success with establishing and achieving new goals.
I’m sure we are already drafting those new goals in our heads, if not in our new planners yet. I’m pretty sure Christa will be suggesting we start writing out our goal statements and making our initial plans soon. So stay tuned.
Happy Planning,
Linda
P.S. If you missed any of Christa’s End of the Year Planning Tips, you can find Tip #1 here.
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