What To Do Before The Year Ends
We’re winding down on a full year of life lived. There’s been seasons, strivings, and struggles all throughout it, and it can be both overwhelming and exhilarating to consider what the next year holds. It is that time when people pull out the checklists, journals, and devices to prepare for their New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve never been much of a New Year’s Resolution person. While I think they’re valuable, I’ve always had the perspective that if I want to start something, I can start today. I don’t need to wait until the perfect starting point to get it going. But as I’ve reflected, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is not necessarily the resolution that matters, but the art of visioneering. And to do that, you need a process. You need your own way of dreaming for your future, organizing your life, and following through on your actions. So how do you wrap up the year and prepare for the next one? To me, it means thinking of it less as a resolution and more as a way of recalling your past, reflecting on your character, and revising for your future. Before this year ends, consider following this process:
1. Recall what has happened. Remember the specific timeline of events that happened in your life this past year. Sometimes it flashes by so quick you forget the good things or brush over how influential the bad things were. Write out some of the major events and parts of your life in the past season. If you’re struggling to come up with any, try writing one memorable event for each season of life (winter, spring, summer and fall).
2. Reflect on what you learned about yourself. This is more big picture and introspective about yourself. Don’t focus on the specific events, focus on how they shaped you. What did this year do to you as a person, whether good or bad, to change you? Reflect on how this year helped you become who you are right now. While you do, write down some major life lessons and character developments you experienced.
3. Revise your future. While reflection is key to understanding yourself, you can never let the past completely define you. In order for its grip to loosen, you must revise your life to plan for something new. You don’t want to wake up 1 year from now with the exact same issues and not have tried anything differently. We all have things we want to work on and things we want to do. This is the place to write those down, and if you have tried them before unsuccessfully, revise how you want to achieve them this year. Plan and organize what you want as far as:
· Specific events you want to take place
· Accomplishments you want to and can achieve
· Character traits you want to develop or practice
· What you want the next season or year of your life to be defined by
This is typically the most fun part for everyone. You get to dream of what you want to do and who you will become, so make sure the vision of who you want to be is aligned with your revision. It’s what you get to look at a year from now when you’re reflecting again.
You don’t have to follow your time of reflection exactly like this. We each have our own way of learning, planning, and visioneering, but if you feel stuck on what to do, start with this. You have a future ahead of you, and it starts with deciding where you want it to go. Take some time to think through what you want, but remember, the joy is not in planning it, it’s in doing it. As founding father Benjamin Franklin said, “either write something worth doing or do something worth writing.” Go live it out, and you’ll have so much to write about when next year ends.
