Powerful Questions Podcast: How was your year?
In this episode I would like you to look back at your year and try to see how it was for you. What was good, what was difficult, what would you have done differently. This reflection will help you understand what you want to change in the next year, and what would you like to keep as it is.
This will be the last episode for this year, and there will be a short break with the episodes till January next year. I hope you have a great holiday season – even if many of us are facing Corona restrictions right now.
Now, to look at your year really holistically I would recommend you to first write down all areas of your life that are important to you: career, family, friends, hobbies, financial success, health, fitness – list everything that is important to you. You can also think in the context of different roles that you have in your life – role of a husband or a wife, role of a friend, role of a daughter or a son, role of an employee or a business owner.
After you have wrote all those down, take some reflection time with each of those and think how satisfied you were with 2020. You can just write down your observations, or you can use some kind of scale to rate how happy you are with this area of your life looking back at this year.
Start by asking yourself some questions to get a holistic understanding of each area for the past year. These will help you really think about your life and reflect whether you live it the way you want to.
How satisfied are you with the way things were?
Did you prioritize this area of your life the way you wanted to?
Did you know what you planned to achieve in this area in the beginning of the year? Did you achieve it?
What decisions did you make? Are you happy with the results of these decisions?
What has happened that was outside of your control? How satisfied are you with your response?
What are you really grateful for?
What would you have done differently?
Now, start asking yourself some questions that are more future-oriented. These will help pave the way for you planning your next year.
What do you want to do differently next year?
What would you keep exactly as it is?
What would you do if anything was possible?
Do you have any specific goals in this area that you would like to achieve?
What do you need to say no to in order to achieve the things you want to achieve?
What did you promise yourself to do but are ready to let go of now?
A very important step after you have gone through each area of your life individually is to look at the bigger picture. How was your year overall? What was great? What did not work out so well? What were the areas of great achievement? Where were you side-tracked? Who were the most important people for you and how did they influence your year? How was the overall balance between different parts of your life?
And the same for the upcoming year: looking now at all you want to do and achieve, is it realistic? What are the areas you would like to focus on?
Take your time to answer all these questions to yourself. Pause your life for an hour and I promise, you won’t regret it. This reflection will help you be aware of what is important to you and will help you make your life better in 2021.
With this, I part with you for this year. I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Thank you for listening and see you next year!