As I sit here in the Meta office, with the end of the year drawing near. I have been reflecting on my working year and am already thinking about how I’d like 2020 to be different.
It’s been a challenging year, but a year of significant progress in the world of Meta and when I think about it, there’s not a lot I would change, but I would change one thing – how HARD work has felt this year, and how much permission I give myself to stop, rest and take time off.
It’s not easy when it’s your own company as Meta is for me, the buck ultimately stops with me, and if I don’t put in the work, well work doesn’t come in! However there’s a balance to be struck, and this year that balance has been slightly skewed, but I don’t think I’m alone in that one.
Remember when there was some balance in your life? Do you remember the time when you didn’t rush around quite so much? Do you recall being able to wind down at the end of your day and not collapse in a heap on the sofa fit for not very much at all!?
The end of a year is a great time to do a review – a ‘progress report’ on your working life and life as a whole. These days years can just blur one into another and I don’t know about you, but I certainly feel that this year has positively whizzed by!
If we don’t stop and reflect, we can get caught in the same old work patterns and get stuck in ways of working and living that don’t really work for us. So I’m going to suggest that this month of December, as well as enjoying yourself, unwinding and relaxing, you also do a bit of a review of your year.
How was 2019 for you? Here are some questions that you could ask to stimulate some thought:
IN 2019 @ WORK:
- What did I do well?
- What didn’t I do so well?
- What good things did I start but then let slip?
- What stopped me along the way?
- What would I do differently given the chance?
IN 2019 IN LIFE:
- What did I do well?
- What didn’t I do so well?
- What good things did I start but then let slip?
- What stopped me along the way?
- What would I do differently given the chance?
This should give you a fairly comprehensive review of 2019. Have a look at what you’re written; would you change things next year given the opportunity?
Well, that’s precisely what I’m now going to encourage you to do!
We are the authors of the story of our lives, no one else. So it’s time for all of us to decide how we’d like our next chapter (in this case 2020) to be.
As you look at your review, start to write your next work chapter for 2020. The ending of a year is a great time to metaphorically leave behind the bad practices and embrace and bring in new, more healthy and positive work practices. It’s a time to dare to dream again, and celebrate all you have done well, along with acknowledging the obstacles that have hindered and stopped you along the way.
Are you ready for your next chapter? If you are, then here’s a few prompting questions that will help you to create that next chapter:
- What would you like to leave behind in 2019?
- What will you continue with into 2020, as it is?
- What will you bring into 2020 that is new and exciting?
- Is there anything you’d done previously that worked, that you’d like to bring back in 2020?
- What things which you let slip in 2019 are you going to recommit to in 2020?
- How will you ensure that the things that stopped you in 2019 don’t stop you in 2020?
- What will you tell yourselves when things don’t go how you’d like them to?
- What things will make work and life fun and enjoyable for you?
- How will you keep yourself well-resourced in the year to come?
When we stop and think about it, we are the difference makers in our own lives. If we decide to take back control, and become the authors of our own lives again, no one can stop us. If we decide we want to be happy, we want to be positive – no one can stop us being that either.
Life and work are about choice. We can’t change the past choices we have made, but we can use them to inform how we choose to be going forwards. Whatever 2019 was for you, you can make changes, and I hope now WILL change how 2020 is going to be for you.
I know I am going to be making those choices.
I hope you will too.
I’m choosing to make 2020 an awesome one – what will you choose?
Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!
In peace and love
Jo x
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