Time to start your annual review!

The year of 2018 is coming to an end. It’s time to take a moment to reflect on it, learn from it… and plan 2019. Recently on The Podcast we gave you our definitive guide to an annual review so let me motivate you to start yours now by breaking down this process into 10 simple steps (see what I did there?):

Step 1 - believe it’s worth it - yes, you have to be motivated to do an annual review so make sure you know it’s important to your goal of living an intentional life.

Step 2 - dedicate time for it - it’s going to take you quite a few hours, schedule them in the first week of January. 1-2 hours a day.

Step 3 - check your last year’s goals (or New Year’s Resolutions if you have them written down) and see what you managed to (or did’t) achieve.

Step 4 - review your calendar and journal entries from this passing year and jot down trends, ideas or feelings you had about things that happened.

Step 5 - close the year - give yourself permission to start your new year with a blank slate. Don’t automatically move incomplete goals or projects to the New Year.

Step 6 - recognize your values - write down what works for you, what’s important to you… and what you don’t care about. Know thyself.

Step 7 - create projects for each of your New Year’s goals. Don’t generate resolutions, be practical and put a project for each of your goals in your tool of choice (like Nozbe)

Step 8 - come up with habits or skills you need to acquire to get your goals done. Goals are hit-or-miss, but skills or habits will stay with you for much longer.

Step 9 - add timeframes and measures to track your goals - make sure to focus on one goal at a time and postpone other goals for later in a year. Work on your skills and habits in the meantime.

Step 10 - regularly review your goals. Preferably every Friday when doing your weekly review. This way you’ll be always on track with your goals.

Now it’s time to begin!

I’m starting my annual review this week and I’m hoping to finish it by January 6. I’ll also started drafting my “review of 2018” blog post and hope to post it in the first week of January, too - so stay tuned!

Once you’ve started your annual review, make sure to let me know on Twitter and let me know how it’s going. I’ll be posting my updates there, too! Good luck!