Three ways to reflect on 2023 (and beyond!)

Hello, I’m Clara, a return and Career Coach for parents. I’m a Coach who shouts about the impact and benefits of setting goals, and that by working together, we can get there faster than you can do on your own. However, today I want us to meet more as colleagues, or peers, and talk a little more about how to find your motivation to make change if the concept of goals brings you out in hives. Today I want to share what to do if you don’t want to set goals. Here are three ways to reflect on 2023 (and beyond!)

This time of year, the personal development space gets very busy, with summaries of the year and promoting plans for the next. You may find that this is the key time your workplace starts to kick off its annual review process, leading to you considering the “gaps” in your KPIs and the “stretch” that you are expected to create for the following year.
Every process starts with looking back, and sometimes this reflection process can lead you to feel discouraged and flat. I want to challenge you, this year, to take a different approach. To accept where you are, right now, consider the following questions.

1. How close were you to your goal?

This is the usual way of showing yourself the progress you have made. We always set hopeful goals, based on the expectations of success, without the knowledge of what will happen during the year. So, consider the progress you have made within the context of the time that has passed. I would put money on your surprising yourself.
2. What happened instead?

When you think about how close you are, contextualise it against how life has panned out. What else has happened that has surprised you? If you were to look at the goal you set yourself, is it relevant to the life you have now? Do you still want it? Is the timescale you expected reasonable?  You may find it may not be a goal you actually want to achieve anymore!
3. What was an extra surprise?

Finally, what was a surprise that happened this year? What curveball has come and set you on a different course? How did you manage it?

With all these in mind, revisit this year through the new lens and consider how much you enjoyed 2023.

If you are struggling to move past the pressure of goal completion, maybe ask yourself these questions.

What did you read?
What did you watch?
What did you listen to?
Who did you talk to?
Where did you spend your time?
What did you learn?
What did you let go of?
How did you ask for help?
Who did you support?

For transparency, you might want to see some of the answers in my self-reflection process. For the goals that I had thought I hadn’t met, not only were they A LOT closer than I believed. I also realised that IT DIDN’T MATTER. Progress was made, and the benefits of the progress were there. Also, I still have a few weeks to influence them (such as pushing forward on my Good Reads Reading Challenge Target!)

Without bringing you deep into my day-to-day reflections some of the key achievements from 2023 were:

Changed my business processes leading to a smoother onboarding for clients and a predictable workload for me.
Experimented with wellbeing support, investing both time and money!
Explored new book genres that I hadn’t considered before.
Supported my daughter through a school transition.
Invested in my professional development which has short and longer-term results!

Extra surprises

Had the flexibility in my diary to volunteer more than expected!
Supported a family member with their mental health
Rediscovered yoga and started to make it a regular practice.

Hopefully, when you go through this reflection process yourself, you may notice you have also experimented and adjusted throughout 2023, being agile to react to the realities of life, whilst keeping in touch with what you want to achieve and bring into your life. As we start to close off the year, I want to share a final point, one that is often lost in a world that is always striving.

Sustaining elements of your personal and professional life, especially when life throws us curve balls, is always worth celebrating.

So, come over to Creating Careers to Enjoy and tell me what you are celebrating this year!