Year in review

I see you over there, wrapping up work for the year… wondering if you actually did anything.

A client recently commented that they felt like she'd been busy all year but somehow didn’t feel like she’d accomplished anything. Unconvinced that this was even possible, we unpicked it.

Shockingly, this wasn’t really the case. Recency bias and the fact that big things move slow meant that she’d ignored all sorts of things – feeding, clothing and nurturing herself and the people in her home, making progress on a tough work situation, helping a mentee get promoted, reconnecting with a friend and establishing a cadence for them to catch up – the list went on and on.

All these things enriched her life over the year and looking back at them reminded her of all that she’d done and experienced. Some things could eventually work their way onto her resume or her annual review, but most of them won’t. What matters in this exercise is that she took the time to give herself the opportunity to reflect and feel at peace with the year.

Now it’s your turn. When you look back over 2022…

• What are you proud of?

• What challenged you? Where did you grow?

• What did you learn?

• What experiences brough you joy?

As you make your list – remember you are a human BEING not a human DOING. Said differently – include things on your list that aren’t directly connected to economic output. You are more than your work.

Big ones on my list -

• I wrote a really good go to market plan for my last launch at Amazon

• I gave myself the gift of sobriety for my birthday – 8 months and counting, it’s been awesome. I’ll tell you more about it in a later post.

• I started my own company in September

• I got to visit some very important people in my life, one of whom for the last time.

What's on your list?