As we approach the New Year, it is a good time to reflect on the past 12-months and look forward to the coming year. By looking at and analyzing the past year we provide the foundations for a bridge to 2020; it helps us create a clear vision for the year ahead.
Good questions to guide our thinking and reflection about our past year include:
- What can we celebrate from the past year?
- What were we able to accomplish?
- What did we learn?
- What would we change?
Reflection allows us to look at our successes, our failures, the things we did well and those where we might have done better. To reflect on how we may have done things differently, what we may have learned from our mistakes.
“If you are a human being you probably use the beginning of every year to reflect on the past year, make decision and set resolutions for the New Year. It is a good thing to make resolutions, but it takes a good deal of discipline and commitment to get results that would be different and better than what you got last year.” Lionnel Yamentou Ndzogoue, Professional Speaker/Author
Once we have taken some time to look back and gained a good sense of what 2019 looked like for us, we can now start to envision how we would like to see 2020 unfold. We can start asking ourselves questions that will guide us in making a plan.
Asking ourselves questions such as those below will help:
- What do we want to accomplish in 2020?
- What steps do we need to take to be successful in achieving our goal(s)?
- How do we measure our success?
- Who might assist us in reaching our goal?
It is important in setting out resolutions or goals to be clear about what we want to attain and what that looks like. To have an end in mind and a plan in place is crucial to successfully realizing our goals.
“The meaning of resolution is “a firm decision to do or not to do something.” The key words are “firm decision”. If you make a firm decision about something then you must also take action and set a deadline, in other words, set a goal!” Catherine Pulsifer, Author
What is your most important resolution for 2020?
Paul Abra, Certified Executive Coach, Motivated Coaching
