End of Year Review...But, First I Must Have Coffee
It’s the end of the year, and I am sitting at my kitchen table, preparing for my annual “end of year review,” but first, I must have coffee. One cannot assess life grandest lessons without a hot cup of coffee to help in the review. My "year-in-review" is a tradition and exercise I do for myself every year. I give myself an hour or more with my coffee, my journal and my thoughts. Sitting here is where I take inventory to evaluate my #wins, my #losses, and my #goals for the upcoming year.
It’s the end of the year, and I am sitting at my kitchen table, preparing for my annual “end of year review,” but first, I must have coffee. One cannot assess life grandest lessons without a hot cup of coffee to help in the review. My "year-in-review" is a tradition and exercise I do for myself every year. I give myself an hour or more with my coffee, my journal and my thoughts. Sitting here is where I take inventory to evaluate my #wins, my #losses, and my #goals for the upcoming year.
It’s incredible how quickly our memory fades with life events and experiences we’ve had earlier in the year. One can easily be unable to recall our most significant accomplishments only to focus on our greatest regrets. For some, maybe your year was filled with self-assessment, growth, and discovery. For others, perhaps you missed the mark on the targeted goal, while others accomplished wins that were never placed on their list. Therefore, it is essential to keep a journal to document and reflect your year.
As a Lifestyle Strategist, I recommend this to my clients and a few other tools, to help them prepare for the year. It’s a task that I too have created when deciding to organize, design and strategize a new life endeavor.
How can you prepare for 2019 and complete your end of year review? Here are my favorite top 5 strategies to help prepare me for the new year.
1. KEEP A JOURNAL. Some of your best ideas, visions and goals come to you a moment’s notice, only to be lost because it was never captured and written down. You do your best to remember but by the time you get the pen and paper or stop to type it out on your phone, but the thought is gone, or you cannot remember it in its entirety. (Trust me, I have had millions of ideas with the best intention and belief that I could remember them only to forget.) This is a great lesson of why I keep a journal.
2. CREATE GOALS EARLY. Have your goals before the new year begins. Start thinking about the next year around the October-November time frame. Why wait until January to start planning your year? Start early.
3. DESIGN A VISION BOARD. Create your vision board to match your goals. Being able to see what your goals are on a regular basis, keeps you on track throughout the year to achieve them. Strategically, place them at home, at work and in your wallet. You won’t be able to avoid it.
4. HAVE QUARTERLY OR MID-YEAR CHECKS. It’s important to “check-in” on your goals to see if you are on track or if you need to adjust your goals or plans for the year. Life happens to all of us and it may mean adjusting, postponing, or cancelling that goal for the year and replacing it with something else. IT HAPPENS.
5. HAVE AN END OF YEAR REVIEW. And here we are, the end of the year, sipping on coffee, with my journal doing my “end-of-year-review” of what went well, what didn’t and how can I improve for next year.
The new year is only a few weeks away, let’s start now with planning for an epic 2019!
Designing Life in Truth,
LaChelle T. Parker
LaChelle T. Parker, Lifestyle Strategist