REFLECTING ON 2021 AND GOING FORWARD

Yeah yeah, you’ve seen it everywhere… New year, new goals, new me.

Maybe things will change, maybe things won’t. But whether or not you’re big on the new year and all the pressure that comes with it, you can still take the opportunity to assess your life and make sure you’re going in the right direction.

Suffice to say, the new year is a perfect time to reflect, plan and take action towards intentional living. That could mean just taking a step back to review the previous year(s), learning from that and then deciding how you’re going forward.

DOING THE REVIEW

For me, this is a simple assessment, month by month, asking: “What went well? What didn’t go so well? What did I learn?”

What worked and what didn’t?

What are my most significant memories?

What truly mattered to me?

For example, last year, I found out that one of my best memories was from the times I travelled with friends. I visited about 6 different cities in Russia and the experiences remain fresh.

I also started learning UI/UX but rediscovered that I love writing and I have better opportunities there. I love creating content and working with people more than recreating serious designs. 

I enjoyed the times I spent alone with God in the quiet and looked forward to the gathering of other believers more than ever. Going through my Notion pages, personal notes and blog posts made me relive all those experiences.

Pro Tip: If you’ve not been documenting things, you should really start. Just going through my gallery and seeing all the pictures and videos I made throughout the year made me realise how much fun I had.

Reading through my notes and to-do lists made me realise how much happened in the past year. And how grateful I am for all those moments.

You could also give names to your years at the end of the year based on what happened, or at the beginning of the year based on what you expect to happen. These names are mostly spiritual for me, so I lean in to discover them.

Then there are also the positives and negatives from the year.

What are you glad you achieved last year? What were your little wins? What are the first epic “Yes” moments that come to mind? 

What made you angry/ disappointed/ sad? What do you wish went differently? Writing all these down will help you get a good view of everything that you went through.

Remember, the point of doing this is not to just write it down and move on, but to create a template for navigating the rest of your life and making sure you’re living intentionally and not leaving things to happen by chance.

GOING FORWARD

For the events that triggered consistent positive emotions, the aim is to try and recreate or come close to them as much as possible.

Spend much more time doing spiritual things this year. Prioritise it. Don’t focus on every other thing and ignore what you know brings you so much joy and fulfilment.

If spending time with friends and family makes you happy, book trips and plan calls ahead of time. If learning or growing a particular skill helped you become more confident, invest in it this year.

Then discover how you can avoid those negative emotions. If it’s a bad habit that produces bad results, think long enough about the result and determine to let it go. Stop eating late at night. Stop checking social media first thing in the morning.

If it’s a weird relationship that brought a lot of argument or sadness, make plans to reconcile or recalibrate. If you were struggling in school, figure out how you’ll get help. If it’s a commitment that takes your rest, give it up.

The point of all this is: look at what happened before and choose– to do the same things or do things differently to achieve the results you desire.

LET IT HAPPEN

Now is the time to realise that mere wishful thinking won’t get you all these plans. You have to plan to see them happen. 

Schedule each action. All those great things you want to see happen again, schedule it. Those negative ones you want to get rid of, create a systematic plan against them.

Then schedule monthly/quarterly reviews to make sure you’re still on track. You don’t want to wait till December/January to see them in your notebook again, do you?

Design– What do I want my life to look like?

Habits– What will get me there?

Follow-through- Do it.

Then review. Regularly.

Now, focus on small wins. Lower those goals and divide them into each month and then each week. When you achieve those goals often, you are building confidence and you are convincing yourself that greater things are achievable. And they are.

Wish you an amazing year ahead,

Evelyn.