Let’s Evaluate this Past Year: Part 1

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Before you move forward with new goals, it’s important to perform an evaluation of the last year. You can gain valuable insights that can help you achieve your goals when you pause to reflect. But you have to approach this evaluation of the past 365 days with a special attitude.

Have the Correct Mindset before Your Evaluation

This isn’t about making harsh judgments or fixating on failed projects. Don’t use this time to mentally beat yourself up. You won’t gain anything valuable from shaming yourself for past mistakes. Mindset matters.

Instead, focus on looking for patterns and trends that impacted your goals. It’s best to handle your evaluation as if you were reviewing a friend’s year. With the level of detachment this brings, you’ll be more open to learning from the process.

Choose the Right Environment

Make sure you begin your evaluation in a quiet, calm environment. If you’re trying to evaluate your year in between cooking dinner and helping the kids with homework, your picture of the last year may not be that clear and you may miss important realizations.

When it comes to your evaluation, you’ll want to do it in a quiet space. It can be helpful to play soft instrumental music or to turn on a white noise machine. This allows you to get into a relaxed frame of mind.

Limit Interruptions

Before starting, you may also want to silence your phone and log off of social media. The constant dings from your cell and social sites can be distracting and you may find it difficult to get back on track after an interruption.

It’s also important to pick the best time of day to do your review. If you’re a morning person, then you may be too exhausted at the end of your day to give your full attention to the year’s evaluation. Therefore, you should try to schedule your review during a time when you feel alert and energized.

Take Your Time

Keep in mind that you can break your review up into smaller chunks of time. You don’t have to dedicate five hours out of your day to this project. Instead, you can choose to break your sessions up. Many people find that one hour sessions are best. It gives you plenty of time to reflect on your year without causing you to feel overwhelmed.

If you find doing your year’s evaluation difficult or complicated, it might be best to get help from a good coach. In fact, your coach can help you approach your year in review with a positive attitude. With a coach’s guidance, you’ll be able to identify the lessons that you’ve learned in the past 365 days.

Looking Back at What Worked

Approaching your review with a positive attitude is important because it helps you to see your accomplishments clearly. If you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start your year’s review, consider asking yourself these questions.

What Saved You Time?

First, you may have saved time by outsourcing certain tasks, like bookkeeping or content creation. Take a look at what you outsourced this past year and how it helped your productivity.

You also might have saved time by developing systems to handle your work more effectively. For example, if you’re a coach, you may have moved to an online scheduler that allows clients to book sessions with you during your available hours. This means that instead of scheduling every appointment yourself, you’re able to devote your time to more important tasks.

What Made the Most Money?

Next, examine the different branches of your business and see which ones made you the most money. Did your web design package prove to be a big income generator? Perhaps your new product brought you a flood of new customers?

Knowing which activities are making you money is important. You don’t want to invest your New Year into tasks that aren’t growing your business.

What Created the Most Personal Pleasure?

Now it’s time to look through the year’s projects and evaluate them in a different light. You want to focus on the ones that made you happy.

Ask yourself why you felt happy when you worked on these projects. Did you get to tap into a skill you’ve always wanted to use? Or did you discover a talent you didn’t know you had? Whatever your reason why, make sure you write it down so you can remember it later.

What Exciting Relationships Developed and Why?

Growing your online community is done one relationship at a time. That’s why it can be helpful to review your relationships over the past year.

Did you become friends with another business owner that you might want to partner with later on? Moreover, did you hear from several customers that love what you’re doing and want to beta test your next project? Make a list of the new relationships you’ve developed and why they matter to you.

What Positive Breakthroughs Did You Make?

As you’re evaluating your past year, reflect on your mindset. How is it different now? Did you experience a mindset breakthrough that changed the direction of your life as a result? Equally important, did you invest in learning more about mindset and how it affects your business?

Think of your twelve month review as a great way to dig up your past. You might just find a few golden nuggets that will help you in the coming year.