As we approach the holidays and the year comes to a close, it's natural to start looking ahead to 2018. Focus shifts to New Year's Resolutions and what comes next for us in our lives and careers.
While it's important to be forward thinking and get serious about your goals, I encourage you not to let 2017 go so quickly.
Yes, 2017 was arguably a pretty tough year for many people given the events of the world. However, I'm willing to bet that there were some really good things that happened to you too.
Our tendency to jump right into the new year means that we often forget to reflect on the year we just finished up. And, as we look ahead, we often focus on all of the things we want to improve. In the process, we don't celebrate all that we accomplished over the year.
So before we dive into our New Year's Resolution lists (don't worry, I'll be talking about this soon), let's take some time to reflect on 2017.
I'll go first.
MY YEAR IN REVIEW
As part my year end review, I decided to give my 2017 a personal theme (if you download my FREE worksheet below, you'll get to do this too!). This theme is based on all of the things that happened in my life and business over the past year.
Going through this exercise and reflecting on the year, my theme for 2017 is forward movement.
Here are a few highlights that led me to this theme:
1) When I first launched this website in January, my only readers were good friends and family. I knew everyone on my mailing list (I had put them there after all) and I hoped that they liked what I had to say.
I remember sending my first email and praying that it would resonate. I hadn't put my writing out into the world like this since my (very short lived) attempt at writing a blog right out of college that pretty much no one knew about. What did I know about writing or blogging? And did anyone care?
Since then, my email list has grown and I definitely do NOT know every person on it. (Although hey, if you'd like to introduce yourself, please do! I'd love to meet you!) Of course I still have moments where I'm nervous about whether a blog post will resonate or not, but at this I've received enough messages of support from women reading them that I know I'm on the right track.
To me, this is forward movement.
2) Back in January, I had zero paying clients. Yes, I'd been coaching on the side for over a year at that point while I was getting my certification, but a lot of those coaching hours had involved me giving my time away for free so I could have experience and feel confident in what I was doing. I had no idea when or if someone would pay me to do this.
Right after I launched the website, I went on vacation with my family for 2 weeks. I pat myself on the back for putting the website live, checked out to lose myself in the mountains, and figured I'd start trying to find clients in February. Not totally the normal approach to launching a business, I know.
While I was gone, two women submitted "work with me" requests through my website. The coolest part? I didn't know either of them. One moved forward, the other didn't. But that meant that within my first month of being live on the internet, I signed my first paying client. It felt so validating!
To me, this is forward movement.
3) Over the course of the year, I've created 5 of my own workshops, spoken at 7 events, been interviewed for 2 podcasts, and launched 1 mini course.
I had none of this put together when I launched the website last January. At the time the workshops section of my website essentially said TBD. I had some loose ideas, but none of them had been fully formed yet.
To me, this is forward movement.
4) In January, I remember speaking to a good coach friend of mine about how isolated I felt. While I had entrepreneur friends (like her) who lived elsewhere, I didn't have anyone in the Boston area that I could meet for coffee in the middle of the day to talk about the difficulties of being an entrepreneur or share marketing strategies with. I also told her about an idea that I had to create a coffee shop coworking group for female entrepreneurs who were struggling to find community as well, but complained that I didn't know any.
My friend told me to stop being a martyr (gotta love having friends who will call you on your shit) and told me to go meet some women. I was an extrovert after all - it shouldn't be too difficult.
And she was right - it wasn't.
Through all of the networking I've done to meet new clients, I've also ended up meeting some female entrepreneurs whom I now can't imagine my life without. I've built a community of women around me who are game to help one another out and whose strengths somehow magically line up perfectly with the others' weaknesses. And, I've created that coworking group I'd dreamt up.
To me, this is forward movement.
Doing this exercise made me realize just how far I've come in 2017.
When you're in the thick of it, sometimes it's hard to see. Every day has presented new challenges. Every day I fight off my inner critic. Every day I wonder what's going to come next, with no clue other than a deep certainty that I'm somehow on the right path. In those moments when things feel tough, fear and doubt can easily creep in.
But for all of those times I've gone into panic mode or questioned what the hell I'm doing, this year end review exercise has reminded me how much I have to celebrate.
I don't share my personal year end review to brag about all of the successes I've had. Trust me, there are plenty of things that I didn't accomplish this year that I wish I had and this was one of the toughest years of my life.
Rather, the reason I share all of this is to help you see the benefit of actually taking a look at the past year and all of that you have accomplished.
As I said before, sometimes when you're in the thick of it, it's hard to see how far you've come, so giving yourself the space to reflect can give you a much needed confidence boost.
Your Year in review
Okay now it's your turn! Time for your year end review!
This is a chance for you to reflect on yourself, what went well, what was challenging, how you grew, etc. It's a chance for you to celebrate the success you had.
It's also a way to inform yourself as you look forward to 2018 and determine how you want to live this next year. By reviewing the past year, you get to determine and be proactive about what you want to bring with you and what you want to leave behind.
To help you get started, I've put together a FREE worksheet for you. It's full of questions to help you reflect on 2017. You can print it out and write right on the worksheet or you can write in your favorite journal - whatever feels best for you!
Give yourself the gift of reflecting on all that you've done this year! Because you're a total badass and deserve to celebrate yourself!
Be well,
Carolyn