We’ve come to the end of yet another year. Phew! I don’t know about you but I am glad it’s over. I don’t know what your year was like. Mine, although it had some highlights and a lot of growth, proved to be my hardest year yet. Having been someone who in the past allowed my life to stagnate and didn’t care much about my future, now I use the end of the year as a time to reflect on my year. I do this to see what changes need to be made going forward so that I’m constantly growing and pursuing my dreams. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you do your own reflection:
Questions to ask yourself:
1. What were the highlights for the year?
2. What did not work or did not go well?
3. What should I continue doing?
4. What changes do I need to make?
5. Do I need to make any changes regarding the people around me? (As Jim Rohn said, you are the product of the 5 closest people around you.)
6. Of what I set out to do, what did I achieve?
7. What should I carry over into the coming year, if anything?
8. How were my closest relationships? Did things go well or things could have gone better? What can I do to improve them? (For example you may need to spend more time with your family. If that’s the case, how will you do that?)
9. How do I feel about myself and how have I been taking care of myself in the past year? (Ask yourself this because you have to love yourself and take care of yourself if you’re going to perform at your best.)
In deciding how to tackle my next year, I looked at things that I could do. Think about what you need to do or would like to do. Here are my examples:
To do:
1. Write down what you would like to achieve in the coming year. Where possible break it down into which parts of the year you’ll tackle these. For example, I write down a 3 month to do list. Yours could be 1 month or however long you wish.
2. Note down what you would like to focus on where your growth and development is concerned. For example my financial and entrepreneurial education needs improvement so I’ve included that on my list. With YouTube, books, numerous podcasts and blogs, I don’t have to get some sort of qualification. I can acquire all the knowledge I need from home.
3. Set out what you’re going to do towards achieving your dreams. This is outside of your work, if you are employed and outside of your business if you have one that is for making money but is not your dream. This is so that no matter what you do in the coming year, you make sure in one way or another you’re pursuing your dreams.
4. Who or where are you going to get your growth and development education from? For example since I’ve decided I need more entrepreneurial knowledge, I’m going to listen to (or read) more of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast where he interviews the likes of Richard Branson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arianna Huffington and many more. Instead of reading about “10 things that millionaires do,” I want to hear from the horse’s mouth.
I don’t know what the next year brings but I say let’s go into it prepared. Let’s commit to tackling it head on no matter what comes our way so that we come out on top. Let’s also expect awesome things this coming year. Allow me to warn you, you can plan and prepare for all contingencies but whether we like it or not, life happens. Some things happened this year that blindsided me and some took me down for a while but I still got up. So what am I saying? Whether or not things go your way this coming year, face it head on.
Beyond the next year
It’s important to prepare for the year ahead, however I believe if you don’t have a vision for your life as a whole, it won’t help you much in the long run. You need to know what you’re ultimately working towards. Do you have a vision for your life? Do you know what success looks like for you?
To help you with the above questions, I’ve written about why you need a vision for your life. I also use different ways to record my vision, let me give you 3 of those and if you haven’t recorded your vision in some way, maybe you could choose one of them:
Vision Board
This is a board where you put pictures, drawings or words of things you want to see in your future. You can use any board as a base. I used old calendars for some of mine. You can use cardboard. You can get pictures from old magazines or print them from pictures online. Don’t limit yourself, go crazy on that board.
For every picture or words you put on that board, know what they represent so that every time you look at them you think of that thing. For instance I have a picture of Oprah Winfrey on one of mine and I put it there because of the influence I would like to have. Every time I see that picture, that’s what it reminds me, that I will have the kind of influence on the world that I dream of. If you want to see an example of a vision board, Google ‘vision board’ and if you go to ‘images’ you’ll get many examples.
Vision Letter
A vision letter is a letter that you write to someone and date it 5 or 10 years from now, or however long you wish. You tell this person you’re writing to what your life is like, where you are, what you’re doing and who you’re with. You would have to be as descriptive as possible. You can include anything you want to see in your future. If you’d like to see an example of my latest vision letter that I got creative with, you will find it here: My Wikipedia page in 2029.
For your own vision letter, think about what you want to see in your future and go for it. Dream big. They are your dreams; there is no need to limit yourself. What is needed from you is belief. If you believe, anything is possible. Even if it takes 5 years, 10 years or 20 years, it will happen.
Vision Obituary
The third way is what I call a vision obituary. This is where you write your obituary detailing your life’s work. You write what you want people to say about you at your funeral. You write it as though you have lived out your life. This will help you to see what you want to have done in your life before you die. If you want to see an example of mine that I did in 2017, you will find it here: Sibo’s Vision Obituary.
Alright ladies and gentlemen, that’s all from me for this year. Happy New Year! May all your dreams come true in the coming year and may your year be filled with love. Until next year, dream big, believe in your dreams and don’t be afraid to be 100% YOU.
