Here we are in the last three months of the year. October, November, December. Admittedly, this is my favorite time of the year. Something about cool crisps mornings, cool not cold, and the changing seasons brings me all the joy. While I do love this time of year for all the reasons: my babies birthdays, fall, apples, pumpkins, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I like to use this time to evaluate my year.
Do what?
Yes, you read that right. I like to evaluate my year. Relook my goals, personal life and relationships, our finances, extracurricular activities. Everything.
You may ask, “why do you do this?”
Well, throughout the year things change. I think it is important to maintain awareness of what changes and the implications those changes have. It is not always about change though, something may be going really well. We all know the saying, “if it is not broke, do not fix it!”. Right? Bottom line, I like to use this time to review my year and prepare fore the upcoming year.
How Can You Do This?
First things first you have to know what your goals, plans, ideas, whatever are. Let’s say you wanted to read 12 books this year, one a month. You can easily keep up with this monthly, but you may reach October to see you have only read five. At this point you can revise your plan to read more, continue at you current pace, or finish the goal all together.
There is nothing wrong with maintaining where you are at. Do not rush from one goal to the next, take time to bask in your accomplishments.
When it comes to evaluating relationships, it is just a matter of who is worth your time and energy. Think of the interactions you have with friends, coworkers, neighbors. How did they make you feel, was there any value added, were you there for them? These are a few questions you can ask yourself with doing this. Looking at your relationships is not meant to be rude, but we have to protect our peace. People come in our lives for a season, reason, or lifetime. I would rather know sooner than later if something is not going to work out.
It is always good to ask yourself a few questions when evaluating your year.
- Where am I at with my goals?
- Did I make a plan?
- Am I ahead?
- Am I behind?
- What do I need to do to reach my goal?
- What this a realistic goal?
- Did I give myself enough time?
- Do you have consistency?
There are so many ways to keep track of your goals now, but it is important you do so. I think this helps with commitment too.
What’s Next
You will have to make a decision based on your discovery. Is it time to make a new goal, finish the other, realize it was too much to handle? Whatever you decide, your goals are not something you can set and forget.
It is during this time you may want to make some year end goals. Some ideas are:
- Decrease screen time
- Pay for the holidays with cash
- Volunteer at a shelter
- Read three books
- Exercise daily
- Maintain goal accomplishments from before
The list could go on and become exhaustive. Point is, use this time to figure out how you want to close the year and start the new year.
Don’t Forget
A goal without a plan is a dream, but a dream with a deadline is a goal. If you would like more information on goal setting, I talk about it here and here.
Do not get stuck in a rut. We owe it to ourselves to strive to reach our goals, better ourselves, and ultimately get what we want out of life.
As always, Give Yourself Grace.