These Three Questions Help You Review and Reflect on Your Work This Year

Looking back on the past year can help you figure out where you want to spend your time and energy next year, whether that’s continuing your successes or remembering lessons you learned from failure. Ask yourself these three questions for a look back.

• What did you do this year that you’re really proud of? This can be anything from a hobby project to a promotion, committing to your personal fitness, or achieving a financial goal. Even if you haven’t had the best year, you likely have an accomplishment of some kind that you can remind yourself of to motivate yourself in the new year.
• What have you learned from your mistakes? Everyone makes mistakes, and thinking about how you can turn those mistakes into lessons for the future puts them in a more positive light.
• What are you willing to let go of? Maybe a goal you had at the start of the year turned out not to be that important to you, or perhaps a group or activity you used to be passionate about isn’t giving you the same enjoyment that it once did.

The end of one year and start of another is one of the best times to set goals or kickoff new ventures, but that doesn’t mean you should focus just on new ideas. This time is about change, so use it to realign where you focus your energy, which might mean pulling back from things that aren’t worth your time anymore.