The Five Questions to Ask During a Monthly or Yearly Review
That brings simplicity to the entire process
What is on your goal list- or more specifically your one goal? Having one goal simplifies life dramatically by allowing for more focus and better results. At the end of the month or year, what questions do you ask yourself about your progress and your life?
Check ins do not need to be complicated. They may be hard to face if we’ve gotten away from the goal. If we’ve neglected the goal this month or year, we may feel frustrated or upset. I know all of these feelings only too well. However, the process of checking in does not need to be time consuming or hard to measure.
The Monthly Check In
Monthly check ins are great for making us take inventory- are we on track? In considering the following five questions, we get a good idea of where we are with our goal and where it can be tweaked for potentially better results.
- What am I proud of in the last month?
- Is my main goal still relevant to me, or is it time to set a new one?
- What lessons did I learn last month that I can apply to next month and future?
- Is there something that I overlooked in chasing my goal this month?
- What will happen if I don’t accomplish my goal?
This last question might be the best simplistic question. Often times thinking of whether something will happen if we don’t achieve our goal lets us know if the goal is still worth it to us and why it’s important.
It can also prioritize things for us. For example, two of my goals were to read 100 books this year but also to get the downstairs cleaned out. In choosing which one to focus on, I asked what would happen if I didn’t accomplish my goal.
Delaying the clean up process for me was more painful than not finishing a certain number of books. Having to continue to look at a mess every time I had to do laundry took precedence.
It helped me to choose where to spend my hours as I knew that there was a real payoff in finishing the basement at this point.
Yearly Review
The yearly review is the perfect opportunity to ask ourselves the hard questions. It is good as we transition into each new year to ask ourselves what still matters and to celebrate the lessons of the last year.
- What were the highlights of the year?
- What lessons did the year present to me that impacted me?
- How did I set about accomplishing my biggest goal? What did I learn from my approach?
- What is the key word or concept for the next year?
- What one goal will I begin with?
By answering these questions, we get a good sense of what has beeen accomplished and how we plan to set about next year.
It allows us to stay away from the large list of things to do that is so entraping that we quesiton how to get everything done. It give a clear focus to the year ahead and provides a way to keep us on track.
Conclusion
Keep reviews: both monthly and yearly, simple by just asking the above questions. Some of them will require more thorough self-examination. That’s okay. Each of these questions are meant to help guide you into not taking on too much at one time but learning and allowing yourself to make changes.
