What is this Practice of a Year in Review ?
A year in review is a way to reflect on where you have been and what you’ve done and the lessons that you can learn from your year. It is a way to understand where you are, where you have been, and it gives you the opportunity to reflect on what’s hanging you up so you do not repeating the same mistakes again. And more than anything it is a way to look forward to where you want to be and what steps to take to get you there. To read more about doing a year in review (which I recommend all my clients do yearly) and to get a free workbook check out my post here.What is this Practice of a Decade in Review?
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A decade in review is of course a broader look at where you have been and where you want to go. This kind of reflection is so 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. I first created this 7 part plan in December of 2019 in doing research on year in reviews, and I found there is not a lot out there on Decade in Reviews. It felt like a good time to look back on 2010-2020 as the new decade approached. Now, however, I and many of my friends, clients, and cohort, are facing a new decade- our 40th birthday or 50th. And I am reminded that a decade in the calendar is almost less significant than a decade in a lifetime. So, I am revisiting the decade in review and encouraging you to do the same. Are you staring down a milestone birthday? Maybe 35, 40, 45, 50? This is a great time to reflect back on the last ten years of your life to get a good picture of where you have been and where you want to be in the next ten years.The Seven Steps to a Decade in review
1. Pick one thing from each year to rejoice over and one thing to learn from
In this step it is important to first pick something that you are happy about, excited, proud of, something you accomplished, overcame, or something that brought you success. Start with the positive first, then look at the year and find something that was not what you had wanted or desired but taught you a valuable lesson. Something that gave you a learning and growth opportunity. This is not meant to be an exercise of self shame and blame. This is meant to be a learning tool. Get curious and open, not judgmental. What could you have done differently? What lessons were learned? Pick one for the year and move on, no beating yourself up!2. Give Each Year a Name
Each year is a season of your life. A combination of joys and regrets. Each year has a theme, maybe that theme was a hard lesson, maybe it was a new beginning, maybe it was something to be proud of. This again is not about judgment and shaming yourself, this is about finding themes and patterns and finding the overall theme of your year. It might seem like a meaningless assignment to give each year a name, but I have found that themes and intentions are very powerful tool to help us identify what really matters to us as individuals. It can also serve as a guide, pointing us in the direction we want to be headed in life. Remember, a Decade in Review is not about dwelling on the past, it is a tool to inform our future direction.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 last 10 years
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- Career
- Finances
- Personal space
- Family
- Friends
- Health/exercise
- Fun
- Personal growth
4. Now Reflect and evaluate-what did you learn from each exercise?
After completing the first three exercises look back and see if you notice any themes. Do you see places you held yourself back? Do you see themes in where you had success and where you had missed the mark? What can you see as your most common limits and the ways you are holding yourself back? What are the places you are excelling and how can you apply that to your plans for the next year, and decade?5. What jumps out at you?
I find that as you work through these exercises you will find something that is blaringly obvious. Something you continue to do and see over and over again in your decade. For myself, what jumped out was a common theme of not trusting myself and holding back in the experiences that I regretted, and the ones I was most proud of over the last decade had the opposite theme, they 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 decade is trusting that I can do hard things. What can you see as your common hang-ups and what you excel at? How can you use this to set intentions for the next year and decade?6. If you were to choose just one area to improve in the next year and in the next decade what would it be and what action would be required?
First look at the 8 Key Life areas and chose one area to focus on. Then think about what jumped out at you. Was there a mindset or intention that feels important? Is there something you want to focus on now that you see what the sum of all your choices have been for the last 10 years? Is there a them for the next year? For the next decade? Think about yourself in 10 years doing this exact exercise. What would you want the main them or insight to be in 10 years?
Now, go plan next year!
This is the time to create some goals and intentions for the next year, and the next 5. If this feels intimidating don’t worry, it can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be! Join me for a FREE Goal Setting webinar where I will help you understand how to set goals that align with what truly matters to you and how to actually make the goals stick. I will break down the Five common mistakes I see people making when setting goals that lead them to fail year after year at making lasting change, and I will talk about my unique seasonal goal setting method that will help you create doable goals and make them actually stick. Join me, it’s FREE!