December reflections

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Every year during the month of December, I take a break from many business related activities and concentrate almost solely on my purpose and plan for the next year. It’s a time I use to reflect on the past 12 months and to think about what I’d like to do for the next 12.

This usually means I make lists, go over everything I’ve done the past year, and adjust my long-term goals as needed. If I’m lucky, during this reflection, I find that I’ve met or exceeded the plan I created the previous December.

Since the kids and I have been taking turns getting sick since Thanksgiving, I haven’t really started my December reflections yet. Or well, at least I’m not to the point I normally am by now. But I’m finally getting going this week and so I wanted to share my process with you.

One of the first things I do is write down highlights from the year.

These are things that for one reason or another are significant to me or for some reason, stand out in my mind. Some are personal, some are business. Some are happy or fun and some are sad.

But I write these things down and then I pull out the list of goals I made last year. This allows me to see where I’ve gone and if I was on target for what I originally intended or if something else happened. Sometimes I find that I’ve not done much of what I wrote down and other times I hit nearly every mark.

Where I find the most growth – and oddly enough, the most contentment – is when I *have* missed the mark, when I haven’t reached many of those goals I thought I wanted.

In these times, I realize, it’s true the Universe knows better than I.

It doesn’t mean I’ve failed. It just means plans changed along the way.

And that’s ok. That’s what it’s all about. Learning, growing, sharing. I can reassess what I find important and define what doesn’t really matter to me.

Once I’ve done that, I decide what my top priorities should be for the next year. Sometimes things will carry over but quite often, nearly everything on the list is new or different than last time.

Often, I have multiple lists including:

• Personal
• Family
• Relationships
• Business
• Fun
• Education
• Health
• Spiritual

And sometimes others. It just depends on what is important to me at that time. I like to break it down this way because it forces me to really be in tune with every facet of my life and not neglect anything.

The next step is to set targets.

At this point, I take out the calendar and set some targets for myself. Having a specific date gives me a concrete reason for getting started on each goal. Otherwise, I procrastinate. This step also allows me to prioritize each item.

One thing I try to keep in mind is to spread out the “big” goals in between the “little” ones. By spreading them out, I ensure I don’t get overwhelmed. Too many big goals in a row is a good recipe for burnout. I try to avoid that as much as possible.

What do you do to get ready for the new year? Do you set goals for yourself? For your business or career? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you.

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Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.