How do you prepare for your New Year plans? My husband and I have used the same process for over 10 years now. At the end of the year, before any new goals or plans are made, we craft a “Best of List”. What were the best things of last year? Listen to Podcast HERE or on Apple.
Gratitude List
The great thing about this process is that it doesn’t take long and it’s one of our most enjoyable dates. We get to reflect on everything we loved about the year. It’s proven to be an incredibly productive habit. Because each year, once we are really clear about what brought us the most value and enjoyment, we can make sure to create more space for those things going forward. The under-performing things we give less energy, time and money towards.
During my career, I had the privilege to interview and hire over 100 employees. The motto was, “The best indicator of future behavior is past performance.” It’s true in hiring and in life. What brought you the most joy, happiness, and fulfillment last year is the thing most likely to do that next year.
Each year gets better! We get better at learning what works for us and what falls flat.
Top 10 Year End Review Questions
Here are a few of the questions that will help spark this (My episode 1 guest, Kerry Ann, introduced me to a few of these).
- What brought us the most joy?
- What were unexpected or unplanned blessings?
- What was a relief, happy to be finished, or created closure?
- What were your peak experiences?
- What people and relationships brought the most growth or joy?
- What experiences did you enjoy?
- What habits or routines were enjoyable, meaningful or healthy?
- What would you love to do again or keep doing?
- What was good, but you isn’t something that should go into next year?
- What brought the most healing, joy, health, or comfort?
I’ve had hard years. Years I honestly didn’t want to sit down and do this because the weight of the grief felt like it might crush me. But even then, it was good for my soul to search out the beauty and goodness in those years.
I think that you have a great process for planning out the new year. Focusing on the things that brought you the most joy and what taught you the most important lessons is a refreshing way to look at the year ending and the new one beginning. This is so much more important than focusing on something negative to change about yourself (like losing weight, etc.)