STOP, Revise and end 2019 on a high!
I don’t know if you will agree with me but it feels like 2019 has been on fast forward mode, I cannot believe we are already in mid –July. Just a few more weeks to go and the stores will be setting up with the much-loved Christmas décor that will silently have you feeling all ‘Merry’ed out by the time the 25th December comes around. Yip, the year is going by that fast!
Having said that I’m sure you that at the beginning of the year you set some goals for yourself and you might have even added a few since then, but have you been tracking your goals? If yes – Well done! If no – that’s ok! Either way a mid-year goal check in is important. Why? For these reasons.
Progress Evaluation:
One of the biggest advantages of doing a mid-year goal check in is to evaluate your progress, especially with regards to work orientated goals. What have you accomplished so far? Where did you Slack off? Which goals amongst the ones you have identified are of priority to you and need more focus? Which goals have you not started on yet? What obstacles have hindered you from achieving your goals? What have you done to overcome these obstacles or make changes to your goals? Asking yourself these questions will give you a clearer picture of what you have achieved and will also give you a better understanding of what you need to do in order to finish 2019 on a high note!
Declutter your goals:
Let’s face it, the first week of January is when we are full of steam and ambition for what we want to achieve during the year, both personally and professionally and sometimes the goals we set for ourselves can be over-ambitious. Now is the time to sit and be completely honest with yourself and look what you truly can handle/do. If there some goals that you need to remove from your list, go ahead and scratch it off! After all there is always next year and it’s better to focus on two or three goals and achieve them, than have ten goals where nothing gets done.
Establish the way forward:
We often look at how far we still need to go to achieve our goals, but how often to we look at how far we have come? Doing a mid-year goal check in a great way to access and analyse how much we have actually achieved. If your not where you want to be or if you realise how you haven’t even started working on some of the goals you set out, now is a good time to put together a game plan of how you’ll change your actions/plans in order to do achieve what is important to you! Taking the step back and really determining what you want to get done, is a great way to inspire you to get back in the game, course correct and achieve more than you thought possible this year!
There is a lovely quote by Sherry Swain that says “Reflection enables us to evaluate the experience, learn from mistakes, repeat success, revise and plan” so when you sit to do your mid-year goal check in, get a notebook, start an excel spread or PowerPoint presentation whichever works for you. Physically document your goals, your progress, your to do list, set deadlines for yourself (be realistic and set mini goals that will help you in achieving the bigger goal.) after all this is what you would do when working on a work project to ensure success of a project, right? Well you as an individual and where you want to go professionally is one of the most important projects you will ever work on.
