How to Run Your Own Annual Review
So much happens over the course of a year. Especially this year. Lessons learned. Hardships. Special moments. Personal growth. Victories. Failures.
While I’m just as eager to ring in 2021 as you are, it’s difficult to know where we’re headed if we don’t know where we’ve been.
I’ve experimented with many annual reviews, and I’ve found author and entrepreneur James Clear’s approach to be a simple, straightforward, and powerful source of reflection.
The review answers three questions:
What went well this year?
What didn’t go so well this year?
What am I working toward?
You can do this exercise alone, but it’s definitely powerful with a team as well. Last week, Team Leadology came together to talk through these reflections and it was a great opportunity to share not just where we developed as a company this year, but as people too.
Today I’m excited to share my takeaways from this exercise with you in case it’s helpful for sparking inspiration for your own annual review.
WHAT WENT WELL THIS YEAR?
Whenever I’m working with a client, I always start with what’s going well. It’s way too easy to jump to all of the things that went wrong, especially in 2020. With that said, the first and biggest win this year is that we launched Activate! Creating our group coaching course for managers is a vision I’ve had for years. Although I imagined that it would be an in-person event, being able to help so many thoughtful managers deepen trust and connection with their team was hugely powerful and connected me back to Leadology’s mission to end suffering in the workplace. In 2021, we’re excited to continue to run Activate with even more tools and lessons learned from our pilot program.
We Launched our Newsletter
One thing that really helped me climb out of that initial COVID slime pit was to stay connected with this community. From Coffee with Carrie to launching this newsletter and creating the, -Leadology blog, getting to hear from you, share resources, and focus on what I know to be true helped me stay anchored amidst all of the uncertainty of 2020.
We Landed Major Media Features
I remember crying when we landed our article in Entrepreneur. Media has always been something that brought up a lot of imposter syndrome for me, so when it actually happened this year it was really emotional and reminded me of the importance of not engineering your own smallness.
I Had the Most Amazing Partners
As I entered this new totally virtual world I was able to find complementary partners, including experts across content, media, and tech, to make sure I could continue to deliver for my community in a meaningful way. Sharing more on this, below.
WHAT DIDN’T GO SO WELL THIS YEAR?
I Hate Technology
My patience and aptitude for technology is the pits. I would say it was hopeless... but that would be a fixed mindset statement. I'm really learning, but my brain just doesn't work that way. Nor do I have a desire to really sit down and figure it out. So, you know, it's slow, but my workaround this year was to be honest around what I enjoy and don’t enjoy and find partners who don’t just excel but also enjoy this type of work.
I Procrastinated
With all the newness that was happening this year, and feeling completely pulled out of my strength zone, procrastination became my method of choice. At times, this would disguise itself as me overcomplicating things.
My Morning Routine
I am such an early riser, but I'm not going to say that I’m productive just because I’m up early. I would like to start exercising, journaling and meditating more consistently when I first wake up because I know there's a big difference in how the rest of my day goes based on how I use this precious morning time.
WHAT AM I WORKING TOWARD?
Living in my Strengths Zone
My major lesson learned this year was the power of living in your strengths. As you all know, my strength is to focus on development and coach and lead in-person gatherings. I LOVE being in a room with an audience, and suddenly COVID hit and I had to figure out how to take what I love to do in-person and make it engaging through a freaking screen. As I mentioned above, this caused a lot of pain, procrastination, exhaustion, indecision, and confusion, but it also validated the importance of understanding and living in your strengths, both personally and professionally. It really validated for me that your entire energy, motivation, happiness and wellness depends on living in your strengths. While I refuse to give 2020 any compliments...I will say that taking time to think about all that happened was thought provoking, empowering, and ultimately motivating.
I hope you’ll find this framework as helpful as I did. As you work your way through this, feel free to email me! I would love to hear from you and exchange reflections.
Next week, I’ll be sharing some exercises to help you define, visualize, and plot where you’re headed in 2021.
To connecting the dots,
Carrie & Team Leadology