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We stepped into the third and final quarter of the year two weeks ago. ‘Woah! already?’ Many of us must have exclaimed, myself included, but the truth is, with or without our consent or readiness, time passes.
That arrogant fellow called time, a British poem once read, moves like the wind. Seeking the consent of no one, it runs down the lane. We could decide to be arrogant like time and turn our eyes away from its arrogant hands. If only our lives did not depend on it; on its arrogant hands.
As humans, we have limited time to spend here on earth, and thus, time is a precious asset. We often have unlimited goals and big dreams, but our aspirations can only be fulfilled within a limited time. 
In fact, certain goals have time limitations. For example, a person planning on graduating as valedictorian of a university or college has until the end of their stay in the university to achieve that goal. Understanding the time constraints, many of us set goals at the beginning of each year, highlighting carefully at what position we would like to be at the end of the year.
As the year draws to a close, it is important that, as individuals or business owners, we carry out an end-of-the-year reflection. I know the year isn’t over yet, but I consider it best to carry out one now because you still have a few months to correct any errors or accomplish any unfinished goal instead of carrying it over to another year. Personally, I think a reflection process should be carried out at least once every three months.
How to Carry Out an End-of-Year Reflection
An end-of-the-year reflection is as mindful a process as the art of meditation and would thus require you to think carefully and consciously. It is not a ten-minute task and should not be done in haste.
To really reflect upon a year or a greater part of the year, as in this case, then you have to remember a substantial part of what happened. To help you with this, you should consider looking through:
- Past journal entries.
- Credit card statements (especially if you are reflecting on financial goals)
- Emails, files, documents, etc.
- Jot down your observations or thoughts in a fresh journal entry.
This process will vary per individual, or if you are carrying out an end-of-the-year reflection for your business or organization. Basically, this is just to give a sample of what your end-of-year reflection ought to contain.
1. List out the goals you wrote down to accomplish at the beginning of the year
Make sure you list down all the goals, including your personal, health, financial, and even marital goals. List them out clearly and specifically. The reason for this is that it draws your mind once again to the map or outline you had set for yourself at the beginning of the year. It will also help you be more honest with your replies and evaluations.
2. List out your accomplishments and setbacks
Take note of the goals you accomplished, the ones you didn’t, as well as unexpected successes and failures. This may require a lot of honesty and emotional effort from you, but it will also help you identify the steps you took that led to success so you can build on them, as well as steps to avoid moving forward.
You should also ask, How did I overcome my setbacks? Answering this helps you identify and make better decisions going forward, as well as the steps or actions you should avoid taking.
Sometimes, as this is a very sensitive question requiring an honest introspection, which some people might not be able to properly carry out, you may consider getting the opinion of a third party. The identity of the third party may even be kept anonymous in order to ensure total honesty and no biased opinions.
3. Hindering factors.
List out all the factors that stopped you from achieving a goal or attaining your expected level of progress. Factors here may include poor funds, unexpected changes in circumstances, or even trivial distractions. Carefully outlining these ‘time/opportunity thieves’ is very important, as they are things to avoid moving forward.
4. Take note of the personal improvement you made, lessons learned, etc
While the aim of a reflection is to help you tighten up on your discipline in achieving your goals, taking out time to recognize all the progress you have made and personal growth gotten during the process is certainly not a waste of time. It will mentally motivate you to do better and push yourself towards achieving the best you can.
Some of the questions you should ask yourself under this category include:
- What was the most important thing I achieved this year?
- Did I form any new relationships this year, or did an existing relationship get stronger?
- What was the most fun I had this year?
- What was my biggest surprise this year?
- What was my happiest memory this year?
- In what area of my life did I experience growth the most this year?
- Did my personal beliefs, life philosophy, or perspective get positively influenced this year?
As mentioned earlier, the end result or objective of a reflection is that you evaluate the lessons learned as well as take note of past mistakes. The goal is not to sit on your accomplishments or moan about past failures. If you carry out a proper reflection, the result should be clarity into what you may have done wrong and a renewed zeal to do better moving forward.
Realigning Your Goals After Analysis
At this point, write down your new goals, identify what needs to be fixed, and leave behind any baggage you don’t want to carry into the new year.
The following tips will help you align your goals effectively:
1. Goals must be SMART
Considering the limited time you have to achieve these goals, they must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. Do not run into panic mode and set goals that are not just unrealistic but realistic and impossible to achieve before the year runs out.
Ensure that your goals are not what you scribbled out in the heat of the moment. Write them out and place them in a place where you are bound to regularly come across them at least once or twice a day. To be on the safe side, you shouldn’t have more than five goals.
2. Create action steps
As your goals, your action steps must be SMART. Action plans are the steps you would need to take, habits or daily practices you must imbibe, aids, tools, or structures that must be in place for you to achieve your goal.
In other words, to get to your ultimate goal, you must do something daily that would move you toward the direction of your ultimate goal. Daily, you must become more like the person you aspire to be by the end of the year. That is an action plan.
An action plan is the reason why some people have results and others do not.
3. Identify the area where you will need help or support
Some goals fail because they are not to be achieved alone or without the intervention of some other person. It might be that you need extra funds, advice, assistive technology, or even an accountability partner. Identify where a third party might need to come in and obtain the appropriate help.
4. Be accountable
Accountability is wisdom. I would recommend that you have an accountability system or a partner that you can report progress and problems to. An accountability partner helps to keep you in shape and on the right track on your bad days.
They serve as motivation when you run out of it; they provide you inspiration when all you see is black and white and ensure that you do not give up on your goal in the middle. It’s always accountability over solitude.
In Conclusion,
Instead of panicking about how the year is drawing to a close and you haven’t achieved anything yet, do something else. Gather yourself together, evaluate the past few months, and identify new goals to diligently pursue before the year runs out. I’m rooting for you!
