How to reflect back over this challenging year?
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How to reflect back over this challenging year?
“What a year!” This is probably one of the most commonly heard statements this year. 2020 surprised us with the Corona virus which developed rapidly at an unexpected rate. As a result, we were all suddenly faced with many unknown challenges in both our personal and professional lives.
Now the question comes up: do we reflect in the same way as we have always done this year, or do we view this year’s reflection in a different way?
While the framework of your year-end reflection can be the same as usual this year, there are some questions you could add to take all the special lessons learned and your atypical development into consideration.
In a typical year end reflection, you look back and answer questions such as:
Which goals were achieved and which were not? Why?
Which were the most fulfilling and successful achievements and experiences at work?
How do you feel about them? Could you live your values and achieve those goals the way you wanted to achieve them? If not, why not?
The achievement of which goals and experiences gave you the most joy and fun and generated the most energy? How did you feel when you were having these experiences?
What are the less positive experiences, the failures and disappointments and how did these come about? What are the lessons learned?
Did you do your absolute best to achieve what you wanted to achieve?
Did your absolute best also include using your courage?
Based on your experiences, could you have reached even more courageous goals and attained a higher degree of fulfilment, satisfaction and happiness?
These additional questions will help you to reflect back over this special year:
Which additional challenges did you face at work this year?
How did you cope with them?
In which ways did you have to make decisions and to act differently?
In which ways were you forced to come out of your comfort zone?
In which ways did you have to exercise the courage to stretch, grow and learn?
Which new dimensions of your courage did you discover? How did they help you to move forward?
In which ways did you have to become more resilient? How did you do it?
Which new skills have you learned?
In which ways were you able to contribute to the new challenges of your team?
How did you define success this year?
In which ways did you drive your career further?
What about your physical, mental & emotional health? Did you have to develop new strategies to keep fit?
Which resources helped you best to keep moving forward?
Did you grow in a different & special way this year? If yes, in which way?
What are you most thankful for?
What did you learn about yourself this year?
Which people did you appreciate most?
Do you have any new reflection on the concept of work & life? If yes, which?
Have you gained any new thoughts on the purpose of work? If yes, which?
2020 was a year of transparency and truth. It was a year, which took us back to our roots, a year in which we had to go back to the most fundamental questions in life and work. So, take the courage to make the past year as transparent as possible for yourself and remember the lessons learned to be resilient, to grow and to master 2021.
If by any chance you tend to neglect carrying out regular reflection processes during the year, take the courage and consider doing so in 2021. It will help you to get into the habit of reflection and enable you to keep better track of your goals and strategies and to courageously move forward.
Enjoy your year-end reflection and stay healthy.