5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before the New Year

December rolls around and we all start thinking about our professional goals for the year to come. More often than not, we do this without really looking back over the past year to assess what’s worked for us and what hasn’t.

If you really want to build a successful game plan, then do yourself a favor, and grab a pen and a piece of paper, and set aside half an hour to think about and answer the next 5 questions.

From these simple questions you should be able to see how you need to adjust your focus and what decisions you need to make in order to boost your journey to professional success and fulfillment.

1. What makes you proud, and what makes you cringe, when you think back on the last year?

Don’t be too hard on yourself and skip straight to your failures. Make an effort to write down at least 5 of your successes. Our failures are always the easiest to access, and sometimes we need to look a little harder to recognize our achievements.

To help you answer both parts of this question think about yourself:

– Professionally
– Emotionally
– Financially
– Mentally

2. What things have slowed down your progress this year?

We all have something, whether it’s procrastination, or difficult relationships – consider all areas of life when answering this question:

– Your habits
– Education / Employment
– Circumstances
– Body
– Mind
– People etc

Would you be willing to change these things?

3. How have your feelings about your career / field of studies evolved this year?

Consider how these feelings could and should affect the decisions you make in the new year.

4. In what areas have you doubted yourself?

Were your doubts justified? If so, what can you do to boost your abilities and confidence in these areas? If your self doubt was ungrounded then what are you going to do get over it?

5. Where you successful at networking with people who could help you reach your goals?

Make a list of these people and be sure to be in touch with them before the end of the year, and also to continue these relationships into the new year. If you didn’t do too well in the networking department, what are some ways you can do better in the new year?