How to Do a Year in Review

What is a Year in Review?

What is this practice of a year in review? It’s a way to reflect on your life to see where you have been, what you’ve done, and the lessons that you can learn moving forward. It is a way to understand where you are and where you have been. It gives you the opportunity to reflect on what’s hanging you up, so you do not repeat the same mistakes again.

Sounds like a good idea, right? This kind of life reflection is important because it helps you to learn about who you are and what you are capable of. It can give you the tools to analyze things that happened, how you reacted, and what you can learn from and change for the future.

If you do not spend time reflecting on where you have been and what has and has not worked in the past you will not be able to change and grow into the future self you desire.

Here are seven steps I found to produce a productive and enlightening Year in Review:

1. Pick one thing from each month to rejoice about and one thing to learn from

By focusing on the good and looking at experiences as opportunities to learn we can stay out of the self-pity and judgment trap and keep things more observation oriented instead of expectation oriented.

2. Pick one word for each month

I loved picking the word for each month. It really helped me to put things into perspective. It is so easy to dwell on a few things or events and think it was all a waste but when I look back, I realize how much I have to be proud of and to celebrate or laugh at.

3. Look at the 8 key areas of life and pick one thing to rejoice over and one thing to learn from in each area over the year

Career
Finances
Personal space
Family
Friends
Health/exercise
Fun
Personal growth

This step is always so important because it is a way to look at your life holistically, not just in individual experiences or lessons. Each part is so interconnected and reflecting on these areas individually can help you to see the ways each area can contribute to your overall wellbeing as well as point out areas to improve.

Conclusion

What can you look back on in these 12 months and appreciate instead of beating yourself up? What can be learned from the hard stuff, the stuff that didn’t go your way? How can you shift your focus and use that as a learning tool moving forward?

“We spend a lot of time focusing on what we’re experiencing rather than how we’re experiencing it. We forget that we can change our experience of anything simply by shifting our point of focus. Any situation can be experienced with more love when we choose to see it through a lens of appreciation. Even the tough times can be seen through this lens.”

Gabby Bernstein

After completing these three exercises I reflected on what I learned from each experience. What jumped out at me was a common theme: not trusting myself and holding back. Or the opposite: the things I am most proud of over the last year all required me to step out of my comfort zone and to trust myself and just do it. I need to remember that moving forward. This helped me to see the area I wanted to focus on and improve most the next year and five years is trusting that I can do hard things- I have and I will. I am Gutsy and I will be Gutsy.

Now it is time to plan the next year and the next five!

And if you are serious about achieving your goals and future planning you are going to need some accountability help! And guess what?

I help Gutsy women just like you achieve their goals with confidence and ease in as little as 3 months!

So why not hop on a call with me and figure out once and for all what is causing you to fall short on your goals and what to do about it?

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