“When you think about it and apply yourself, you are creating your life. When you don’t think about it and do whatever, you are creating your life.” ~ Holiday Mathis
The new year is often a time for beginning new things. We make resolutions and set goals. Sometimes we make other new starts . . . a new assignment, a new project, a new job. It can be exciting, and sometimes a little scary, to make a fresh start and the new year just naturally offers a place to start anew.
Before jumping headlong into the new year, it can be beneficial and freeing to reflect on the year we are finishing up. It is good to reflect on your accomplishments of the past year and to declare completed projects finished. We sometimes resist completing projects in our mind and letting them go. They may not be perfect yet, but if you’ve done all you are ever going to do, mark them off and let them go. Don’t spend any more energy on them – they’re finished. Say a good good-bye to 2017. Take some time and reflect on the past year. What have you accomplished? What have you learned? Here are some questions to help you reflect. (This is a great journaling exercise by the way.)
Saying a Good “Good-bye” – Questions for Reflection
What are your three greatest accomplishments this year?
How do you feel about them?
What did you learn from each of them?
What was your biggest triumph in 2017?
What was your biggest disappointment this year?
How do you feel about that?
What did you learn from it?
What was the smartest decision you made in 2017?
Who are the people who had the most influence in your life this year?
What did you learn from them?
What was the biggest risk you took in 2017?
What did you learn from it?
What was the greatest act of service you performed in 2017?
What was the greatest lesson you learned in 2017?
Are there any goals you have failed to make progress on this year? Why?
Are they still your goals? If not, why not drop them?
If you were to give 2017 a name, what would you call it? Why?
What else do you need to do or say to be complete with 2017?
Keep your answers to these questions and review them from time to time. Your thoughts about the past year can help guide your actions in the coming year to make 2018 your best year yet. And that is living the Excelerated Life!
Excelerated accomplishment — achieving meaningful objectives — is one step in creating your Excelerated life, a life of well-being, meaning, and purpose. I’d like to share more about the Excelerated life with you.
