As we approach the end of the year, I hope you’ll spend lots of quality time with your friends, family, and your faith. I also hope you’ll take a good look at what kind of year you’ve had—in and out of your office. I encourage you to celebrate the successes you’ve achieved and consider any goals that might have remained out of reach.
Using a football analogy, some of you had a 9 – 1 season (year). Others might have ended with a 1 – 9 record. Most people finish somewhere in the middle.
For those of you who had a winning year: Congratulations! Enjoy your victories and take time to really understand how you got there. If you didn’t have the season you were hoping for, take time to really understand how you got there, too.
The important thing is not to focus too much on your good or bad record (after all, that’s already in the past; a new year is about to begin). The key is to figure out why you overachieved or underachieved in a certain area.
Why do you find yourself where you are right now? Did you do what you needed to do to be successful? Did you regularly evaluate your progress and make necessary adjustments to your plan? Did you have the daily good habits and solid routines in place to reach your goals? (It’s like staying in shape—you don’t achieve results unless you work at it regularly and purposefully.)
If you are in sales, did you focus on real moneymaking activities, or did the daily minutiae of “the swarm” consume your productive time? Did you work on building new relationships and strengthening existing ones? Did you focus on differentiating yourself from your competition? Were you an advisor to your customers or simply a salesperson?
If you are an executive, did you spend time regularly working your business plan, or did running the company run you? Did you hold others accountable? Did you live out your company culture daily? Did you regularly share your vision for the company with the people who can help you make it a reality?
Now, ask yourself these three critical questions as you reflect on this year and think about what you want to accomplish next year:
- What do I want to do more of?
- What do I want to do less of?
- What should I stop doing altogether?
These three questions—when answered honestly and thoughtfully—can provide so much insight and guidance as you prepare to move forward.
Remember, the new year is the closest thing you get to a “do-over” in life. Go ahead and relax over the holidays; focus on the people and things that matter most to you. But take time, also, to reflect on the past year and to carefully plan for the new one.