As 2024 comes to an end, many are making plans for 2025. Making Resolutions and setting goals for the year is a healthy exercise.
For me, BEFORE setting sights on the future, I like to take stock of the year that’s in the rear view mirror.
As humans, we are historically poor at knowing what success will look like, and certainly what happiness will look like. But we are good at knowing what made us happy and successful in the past.
Go back through your calendar and the photos on your phone. It also helps to ask others who took parts of the journey with you.
From a personal perspective, what things made you particularly happy and what things created frustration and stress? From a work perspective, what did you (and/or your team) do well and what didn’t really go as planned?
Go ahead, write it down.
Don’t worry about structure; stream of consciousness is great.
When I am able to do a quality debrief, for myself or with clients, it starts with
A) Reviewing the facts and
B) Reacting to how those facts and events made you feel.
After you’ve got it all out, go back through your notes and
C) Derive meaning from what happened; what are your take-aways?
Now, you are better prepared for the final step,
D) making decisions about what to do in the future.
How is this similar or different to what you do?
