Learn From the Past and Move Into the Future

Chronologically we’re at the end of the year but the beginning of the journey.Sarah Ban Breathnach

One of my favorite weeks of the year is this week between Christmas and the New Year. For some reason it seems the perfect time to take a “time out” to pause and reflect. I’m spending this week thinking about the past year, successes and challenges, and then shifting my focus to the coming year and identifying what my theme for the New Year will be. Then on January 1st I will sit in quiet reflection and record all of my thoughts..... Perfect!

If you don’t start, You won’t arrive… Anonymous

Use the questions below to map your course for 2011

2010

For the past year what was your overall theme?
What were your three biggest wins personally?
What were your three biggest wins professionally?
What were the three top lessons you learned?
What was the one personal quality that you developed in 2010?
List the ways this quality helped you both personally and professionally.

2011

Looking forward, what do you want the overall theme(s) of 2011 to be for you?
What are your top three personal goals for 2011?
What are your top three professional goals for 2011?
What personal quality do you most want to develop in 2011?
List the ways that this quality will help you move forward both personally and professionally

''Don't be too cautious; take a chance! If you wait for perfect conditions, you may end up living a timid and diminished life. The prospect of failure always exists and it is painful and often embarrassing when we do fail. But it is better to fail while striving for something adventurous and uncertain than to say, ''I won't try, because I may not succeed completely.'''' Jimmy Carter

May you take the challenges of 2010 (and there have been many) and move forward into 2011 with confidence and courage!

“The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.” Ivy Baker Priest

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