It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year – For Reflection
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For me, the month of December is a special month. It is time to connect with family and friends. A time to share fantastic food and some thoughtful gifts. It is also a time to go inside., both physically and metaphorically.
Where I live, it gets dark very early. And the weather is typically cold and snowy (although not so much this year). This means that I spend a bit more time inside, sitting downstairs by the fire crackling in my woodstove.
Metaphorically, I go “inside” by allocating a substantial portion of time of the month to reflection.
So many questions.
It may seem like a lot to think about. It is; I won’t lie; it takes a real investment of time and energy to do it right (which I do my best to do). But it is a worthwhile exercise; one that I would strongly encourage you to do.
You will almost certainly end up in a place that you are not happy in if you don’t take time to reflect on what is working, what isn’t working, and whether the direction you are headed is right for you.. Worse, you might not even enjoy the journey.
Life is too short for that.
Why am I mentioning all of this?
I am trying to help set you up for success. I believe that the more people there are that living out their best lives, the better our societies and the world will be. People do better work when they are having fun doing it. Their level of contribution skyrockets, which adds value to all of us. When people around us are happier with life, are finding meaning in what they are doing, and understand that they are adding value to the world. It makes for a more pleasant environment to be in.
Please do us all a favour and set aside some time to reflect on the year that passed, and also how you want to be in the upcoming year. It matters. If you don’t aim at something meaningful, you will just float through life. There are many intractable problems in the world that need people working on them; we need your contributions.
How do I do all this reflecting? What is my process?
- I set aside dedicated time where I can go over specific topics, booking this time in my calendar. I treat this time as I would any other appointment with someone else.
- I go over the goals that I had written for myself for the year. (Note that this is something that I do repeatedly throughout the year; it is not something that I “set and forget.) I write about if I met them, and if not, what the obstacles were that prevented me from doing so.
- I review my monthly journal summaries. A bit of context first. Most days throughout the course of the year, I write in my journal. I love the Day One app for this. At the end of each month, I go back through my journal entries and craft a monthly summary. I note any themes that I observed in how I was feeling, any interesting and useful observations, etc. I pull out the interesting bits and write up a narrative for the month. When December rolls around, I have some excellent summaries of how I was doing over each month.
- I take these monthly summaries and write up a draft narrative for the year. I write this in a digital document that I keep updating year after year, allowing me to see my progress over multiple years. After I make my draft, I review the narratives that I had written in previous years. This allows me to get a longer-term view of things, giving me the opportunity to see how I have progressed over the years. Getting this multi-year perspective is incredibly helpful, providing me with clarity and insight into just how far I have come. As someone that likes to “achieve”, I find a ton of value in looking at how much progress I’ve made over a longer time period. It helps me realize whether the habits and routines I have been implementing are leading me to where I want to go.
- After having reviewed the long-term narrative for things, I summarize my thoughts on the year. I note where I succeed and where I came up short. Next, I reflect on how I can work around the things that held me back from achieving what I wanted to achieve. I also ensure to look at where things worked, finding ways to “double-down” on those activities. This ensures that I am not only looking at the negative aspects; it facilitates me building more positivity and optimism into my approach to life.
As I mentioned earlier, doing all of this takes a lot of time. But I have found that it works. By taking time to reflect deeply about my progress and see the long-term trends of my life, I end up being more prepared for the year ahead. For me, it is about continually improving myself and enjoying the journey along the way.
Reflect on how you progressed over the year and set yourself up for success. You will thank yourself next year.
Quotation that I have been pondering
Sometimes I lack patience with myself, and I am sure that I am not alone in that. Many (most?) high-performing people find things move too slowly. My natural tendency is to want to get where I am aiming at faster, to arrive quicker. I know that is not healthy, nor is it the right way to achieve things. In fact, I regularly advise people it is much better to make slow and steady progress at change.
Successful and sustainable change rarely happens all at once. However, that does not mean that I don’t fall prone to this sometimes too. I am only human.
As I mentioned in the article above, I sometimes take stock of my life, looking at it through a longer-term lens. When I do, I almost always find myself amazed at how far I have come. Which leads to this week’s quote.
If you can just slow down and be clear about what you are trying to achieve, why you are trying to achieve it, and what small steps you are going to take towards that goal every day, achievement of your goal will be inevitable. We have heard how powerful compounding can be with earning interest on money; the same principle is true with daily actions.
Taking consistent steps, no matter how small, day after day, compounds progress with time.
Journal Prompt
Our society, educational systems, and culture have all conditioned us to believe that failure is a negative. This conditioning is harmful to our long-term success. There is no success without failure.
Failure is nothing more than learning by another name. When you first tried to ride a bike and you fell off, your parents likely did not scold you for failing. You were learning, not failing.
We somehow lose sight of this as we get older and have more experiences in society. Our ego gets in the way; we feel a need to be seen as competent, as having our stuff together.
Failing, especially in public, makes us vulnerable. People will know that we don’t have all the answers. Our ego hates that.
However, success lies on the other side of failure. You need to go through failure, likely multiple times, to get to success. This can be uncomfortable. Which leads to a great journal prompt to get you thinking:
Reflecting and journalling on this question can help you understand the work you should be doing. Discovering something that you will do no matter what is a clear sign you should not ignore.
Don’t fail for the sake of failing. But fail for the sake of learning. You’ll become great at that thing if you fail enough times.
