This morning, I started thinking about what I wanted to create for 2015.  It’s December–the time to start making plans for the coming year, and to figure out the next hill I want to take or the next goal I will accomplish.  How much money do I want to make? What great new product do I want to create? What new skill do I want to master?

Then I stopped myself mid thought. . . “What are you doing, Vicki – you haven’t even acknowledged what you’ve accomplished for THIS year!” 

Why do I do that? When I work with clients one of the questions I like to ask them in December is, “What are your wins for this year?”  So why was I not doing that for myself?

As I reflected on this question, I realized I’m not alone in this.  I see this a lot. We tend to go from one thing to the next.  Accomplish this, then move on to that. Conquer this challenge, then go face the next one.  But we rarely stop and acknowledge the wins, the successes, and the accomplishments along the way.  So why is that?

I think there is a never-ending list of “to do’s” I have in my head, and until everything is accomplished, I’m not truly a success, so I tend to focus on all the things I didn’t accomplish this year – didn’t get the book published, didn’t get blog posts written every week, didn’t master great writing skills, didn’t get the garden planted for winter, etc. etc. etc.  I actually spent today writing all my, “I didn’t get these things done” list so I could be done with it. Really, there is nothing I can do about what I didn’t get done – the year is finished.  It felt good to simply let go of those things that were nagging at me as incomplete.

Once I got this out of my system, I was then able to start working on the “Here is what I DID get done this year” list.   I was pleasantly surprised to see that my “What I got done list” was longer than my “What I didn’t get done” list!  It felt good to see the ground I had taken.

The other benefit in writing out my “What I didn’t get done list” is that I now also have a beginning point for looking at what I want to do in 2015. By looking at the list of things that I have as incomplete for 2014 I can start to see what might be on the list of projects / goals I want to accomplish in 2015.  This is a great starting point for having clarity as I move into this year’s planning.

Before you wrap up this year, I encourage you to reflect on your year, look at what you didn’t get done, and let go of it. Then write out what you did accomplish and acknowledge yourself for a job well done.  This will help you have more clarity and confidence as you move into planning for 2015.  More tips on planning for 2015 in my next post.

Until then, make it an extraordinary day!

Warmest,

Vicki