There are just six weeks left of 2019 so it's a great time to reflect on your 2019 goals and what you can learn from them. Don't forget:
Celebrate your wins - celebrate and embrace all that you have achieved in 2019.
If you didn’t achieve everything on your list, be kind to yourself. You still have six weeks to go - you can do a lot in that time. Refocus on what you have left to achieve, and re-energise for the last six weeks.
If you don’t manage to complete everything, don’t worry, you can roll things forward and start your 2020 list.
Notice what you can learn from the things you didn’t achieve. What’s the reason for that? Is it a lack of motivation, a lack of time or resource? Perhaps it wasn’t the right goal for you this year? Either way, this will give you information for setting goals for next year. If it’s still important to you, draw a line under it for this year and re-frame it for 2020. If it's not - cross it out and move on.
Reflect on your progress - OK so maybe you didn’t set specific goals for 2019 (or kept them somewhere safe....!), but it’s still important to look how far you’ve come. A year is a long time, even without goals written down, you will have achieved, you will have grown and you WILL have learnt a lot.
Take a few minutes to think back to this time last year - how did your life look?
What job were you in? What projects have you led? What people have you inspired? Who has inspired you? What challenges have you met head on? What results have you achieved?
What was going in in your home life? What people have you met? What celebrations have you marked this year? What struggles have you overcome? What more do you know about yourself? What milestones have you reached? Birthdays, weddings, social gatherings. Meals prepared, weekends survived. Where have you travelled to?
How have you developed yourself? What hobbies, goals and things have you learnt? What personal challenges have you faced? When did you step out of your comfort zone?
“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.” Andrew Carnegie
This time last year, I was in a very different place. I love making my new year goals, but looking back at my 2019 ones, they don’t reflect the huge leaps forward I have made in the last 11 months. I've changed career, and moved from the stability of employment to self-employed life. I've created a balance in my life that makes me very happy and feel very lucky. I've moved closer to my friends and family and feel blessed to be able to spend more time together.
My 2019 goals are important and they reflect where I was in my head this time last year and that in itself is really important learning for me, as I think about my goals for 2020. In December last year, I had not considered I would be change career, retrain, start my own business, regularly be posting on social media and on track to reach my own annual running target of 600 miles. When planning my goals for next year, I will be bolder and braver and push myself even further. For now, I will celebrate in my successes and urge you to do the same.
Gemma Brown is a certified coach who works with successful women, 1-2-1 and in groups, to identify their strengths and build confidence which enables them to have the self-belief to fearlessly bring their whole being into all areas of life. Gemma is based in Cambridgeshire and carries out face to face coaching in the area as well as 1-2-1 coaching via Skype and Zoom. For more about Gemma, visit her 'About' page or contact her directly.