The School of Sass Who else cannot believe that it’s already December, the holiday season is around the corner and the New Year awaits us?! Where has the time gone?!
That being said, now is a great time to review the past year; celebrate your wins, learn from your losses, figure out what you want to carry over into 2023, things you want to change & of course clap for yourself about all the progress you’ve made over the past 12 months.
A yearly review is beneficial because it will allow you to see whether what you’re doing in life is actually what you want to be doing!
Set Aside Some Time For You
Find some time when you know you won’t be disturbed. We know that’s easier said than done so realistically look at your schedule and see how much time you have to do this. If you feel you do not have time, really scrutinize your day & see what you can swap out – are you spending a lot of time scrolling through social media? Maybe you have a Netflix (or another streaming platform) show you want to binge on? Now we are not saying to not watch TV but we are saying that swapping out one 30-minute show, this one time, will benefit you for the year to come.
Grab Your Notepad
Step 1: Now you have your assigned time, we want you to start by writing down all the things you accomplished this year. It’s important to do this as it starts things on a positive note and gives you time to recognize and celebrate yourself when you probably haven’t done so.
*Reminder* You don’t have to focus on the ‘bigger’ life changes, you can write down the ‘little’ things, maybe you read more books this year, went out for daily walks, and prioritized your self-care.
AND, don’t forget to celebrate the wins that you hadn’t actually set out to do – what was a pleasant surprise from the year?
Step 2: Write down the areas that could be improved. OK, so before you begin with this we are not saying you need to sit and dwell on things or regret. Instead, we want you to take an objective look at 2022. Look at the why? Here’s an example, let’s say you had a fitness goal, so at the start of the year you got a gym membership (cliche example we know..but hear us out). Now that you’ve reviewed you realised you did not actually end up utilizing this membership. So rather than dwelling, ask yourself why not? What held you back? Then go from here and figure out how to improve this for the next year. Or maybe it’s something you don’t need for 2023. So, in the example of the gym membership – perhaps you prefer to work out in other ways, maybe you found a new love for running, or perhaps you just love going to your spin class, or maybe hiking is more your thing, or working out from home. If that’s the case then you know for 2023 you can drop the membership and pursue other ways to stay fit.
Step 3: What did you enjoy doing this year? This new list we want you to write down is separate from the ‘things I accomplished list’, as it’s focused on more ‘life’ things – perhaps you spent more time traveling or meeting family and friends. Did you join an art class? Maybe you read a really good book that you enjoyed.
Divide things up
If you want to be really organized you can divide your paper into different areas – work, health, finances, relationships, and learning. You can then work on each section. To make things even easier for you, we’ve created a worksheet that you can download for free below. Thank us later!
To give you a bit of guidance:
- Work can consist of professional accomplishments, challenges, raises, promotions, and feedback.
- Health can include diet, exercise, sleep, overall mood, and stress levels.
- Finances could be the money you spent, and saved, did you budget well, and any big purchases.
- Relationships can consist of meaningful moments, memories made, and conflicts.
- Learning includes the lessons you learned, subjects explored, new skills, and skills developed.
Your life is not permanent. You are not stuck. You have choices. You are allowed to grow and change.
New Year Goal Setting
Once you have everything written out in front of you, it will help you set goals for 2023.
We’ve written about goal setting before, which you can read in more detail here. Quick refresh for you – when it comes to goals, in order to ensure you achieve them you need to ensure they are realistic. We are not saying you can’t aim for the stars – you absolutely can, but be realistic with how you time things. Because we love a good example, let’s say you had set a goal for 2022 to work on your side hustle and within that, you said you would spend two hours a day working on it. Once you evaluated the year you saw you did not spend 2 hours daily on this. Likely, because if you’re working etc, allocating 2 hrs a day to a side hustle is not realistic…life happens. Don’t feel bad about it though, instead, you now know for 2023 you can change this to 2 hours a month or 1 hour a week – whatever really will work. Also, the good thing about this is when you achieve this you’re going to feel good about it, and it will further motivate you. If you set an unrealistic goal of 2 hours a day and then don’t do it, it will make you feel bad so you won’t feel motivated.
It is Important to Remember
While reflecting on the year examine and question, do not dwell. Perhaps you did fall short of your goals or experienced challenges that made for a hard year, don’t feel bad about it. Instead, see what you can learn from it. Also, there’s a high chance that you accomplished more than you think you did! Either way, your annual review will help you learn more about yourself and what you want in life and that counts for a lot! Reflect on 2022 so you can move forward with renewed energy and optimism for all that’s to come in 2023.
