“End strong – begin brave” as Margie Warrell says. I love the way she is so direct.

If you have not yet sat down to reflect on what happened in 2016, then now is the time to do so. A courageous and strong start needs a courageous and strong end. A courageous and strong end requires that you look back with your eyes wide open and a strong sense of self-confidence:

Get an overview – a kind of balance sheet for the past year. What made your last year memorable? Did you achieve in line with your objectives?

Look at your success stories, but also take the courage to examine those less successful stories. What worked well, what less well and WHY? What did you learn? What would you have done differently looking back?

Which type of action and courage helped and inspired you to move forward? 

What about the real you? Do you feel that you were able to live life as you would have liked over the past year? Were you able to stand up for your personal beliefs and values? If not, why not? (Assuming that you know who you are and how you function).

A strong and courageous end also requires a strong and courageous “YOU”. You must make time to celebrate your achievements. This is an important part of the process. Do not neglect it…you deserve it!

You may wish to reflect on other topics. It is your time for reflection and you alone can decide how far to go and where to dig deeper.

Once you have completed your reflection for 2016, you can make a strong and courageous start to the coming year. You can set your objectives and prioritise, according to your motivation behind each objective, and start to work out your strategies as how to achieve them. When setting your objectives, bear in mind what Henry David Thoreau once said: “If you have built castles in the sky, let not your dreams got to waste. Just build the foundations under them.”

Also remember it is never too late to start! Take the courage to start at any point in time throughout 2017 and remember that you can always start over. The cost of waiting and not doing anything is far higher than we assume.

Find yourself suffering from New Year blues and not knowing where to start? Let’s have a talk, that in itself is already a start! (Contact me)