Blogs

During a weekend break in Portugal with a few pals, I came across a message board in bar that was up for punters to scrawl their name, date and other rude obscenities on. In amongst all the nonsense, was this bit of inspiration - ‘2013 was good but 2014 will be better’. We loved it, so we put our drinks together and said cheers for the year ahead.

Since the holiday, we’ve quoted that line a few times and I’m sure with New Year’s around the corner, it will be text or mentioned by one of us again. The real challenge now though is making sure we actually do something to make it better! I think it’s pretty common that people will often say (or write!) positive statements like this but in the end they just turn into empty words, rather than actions.

Something I think everyone should do before setting goals or crossing fingers for a ‘better’ 2014 is to truly reflect back on the year they’ve had.

So how was your 2013? Mine has been a bit crazy (I won’t bore you with the details) but I’ve found that the process of reflecting has been hugely beneficial in work and life. It’s given me some great ideas, allowed me to put things in perspective and most of all it has helped learn from my mistakes. I believe that if we reflect on our mistakes and figure out what went wrong then things become clearer on how we can prevent them happening in the future. We can use our mistakes to be better!

‘“If you live through defeat, you’re not defeated. If you are beaten but acquire wisdom, you have won."
  RZA, Wu-Tang Clan

I’ve also discovered that reflection has the awesome power of making you feel happier too. If you reflect on the things you’ve done right, this allows you to celebrate every success (big or small). Without reflection, it’s far too easy to forget, our successes and focus instead on our failures. A great way to capture these great things is to keep a ‘brag’ sheet or a one sentence journal with your best achievements.

So now we are rapidly approaching the end of the year and even if you’re not a regular reflector then this month presents the ultimate opportunity for you to look back at the last twelve months. Find some time and reflect on these questions below-

What are the 5 great things of 2013 that you are most proud of?

What experience has made you the happiest?

Who has made you happiest?

What have been the best moments in your career this year?

What changes would you make to your career in 2013?

What new connections/friends have you made, and how have these shaped your life?

What challenges did you overcome this year? How did you do it?

What has held you back from achieving what you wanted to do this year?

What can you do in 2014 to ensure this doesn’t happen again?

What was your biggest mistake in 2013? What have you learned from this?

What else have you learned this year?

If you were to live 2013 all over again, what would you do differently?

What are 3 words that sum up your year?

If your 2013 was good, reflecting on these questions will be the first step to ensuring 2014 is even better!
Happy New Year

Adam