This time of year is a time of reflection for many of us. Whether you are preparing your work evaluation or thinking about New Year’s resolutions or intentions, you’re starting to assess the year. In the workplace especially, we look back to our objectives for the year and then review our performance: good or bad.
Even though this year has been incredibly special and unique – there hasn’t been a worldwide pandemic for 100 years – I maintain that this approach below is still valid.
No, it’s not your typical score and judge yourself evaluation.
So, what is the approach?
ASSESS – ADMIRE – LEARN
Assess
This is a neutral word. Its essence is to look at what happened, and look at the impact. So for your review, you would look at these two questions:
1. What did I do this year?
2. What was the impact of that? (on me, on my team/family, on the organisation, on my town, etc)
Admire
We often look for what went wrong, so we flip this on its head and look for what went right. Here are a couple of questions to get you started:
1. What were the successes?
2. What did I create this year?
And then the challenge: admire yourself for it. Feel proud, congratulate yourself for all the many achievements, big and small. If you don’t end up feel pretty damn proud of yourself at the end of this, do it some more. This is not a time for false modesty. And don’t worry, there is no danger of extravagant pride. Warm glows and satisfaction are coming your way.
Learn
This is a question that coaches, developers, engineers, scientists etc. love.
What did I learn?
Ask yourself this then list all the things. Big. Small. Dramatically important. Kinda nice. Don’t know what I’m going to do with this knowledge.
List ALL of the things.
Some of them will be new things, things you didn’t know before (like how to bake sourdough bread).
Some will be an extra dimension to something you already knew (like teachers should get paid more. We’ve always known it, but we definitely know it in a completely different way now).
Some will surprise you – those bits of knowledge that you pick up along the way like that bit of grass on your shoe when you walk through the park, that you don’t realise you have until you look. Or that 10 euros you find in your coat pocket and you don’t know how long it’s been there.
To get you really thinking, challenge yourself to find 100 things you learned this year. I guarantee you can get to 100. If you don’t, I’ll give you a free coaching session.
There are more questions* you can ask yourself but if you reflect on your year with Assess – Admire – Learn, you’ll have something really special.
This post is part of my special Coaching Tips Series. This series was inspired by my clients and the core themes in their challenges. When we can apply these tips, we bring a lot of ease into our lives and step into our leadership. Let’s connect.
*I have a set of questions, a Year in Review sheet, that I’m happy to share with you. Let me know and I’ll send it to you