3 Ways to Wrap Up 2019

You probably already do some year-end activities that help you determine how your year went, like evaluating goals and taking a good look at all of your numbers. That kind of nuts & bolts review is important.

Equally important is taking stock of how you did and what you would have done differently.

Start by celebrating your wins. Go back, month by month, and find the things you did well. Could be big, could be small. They’re all worth celebrating.

Make a lovely new list of when you really knocked it out of the park, on any scale. What can you brag about? When did you step out of your comfy comfort zone and do something scary? Did you say No when you really wanted to? Did you show up fully in integrity as you served your clients? Did you let go of what’s no longer working for you?

A win can also be a time you didn’t give up, even as things went terribly wrong. Thinking back to my corporate days, I remember a year that my company rolled out new software that was unquestionably not ready for primetime and it was my team’s job to work 14-hour days to install and support it. Reader, I wanted to quit. More than anything, I wanted to walk away and crawl into bed with a whole mess of cookies. But I didn’t, and that’s a huge win in my book.

After all this yummy celebrating, let’s shift into a closer look at what you learned this past year.

Whenever we do something new, there’s learning involved, right? Especially if things don’t go exactly as you’d hoped. But missing the mark isn’t a failure – it’s an opportunity to regroup and do better next time. Be sure to thank the learning.

Take a look back at when things didn’t go as expected. Did you offer an amazing new service to the sound of crickets? Perhaps you hired someone who didn’t fulfill your expectations. Maybe you didn’t meet your own expectations or bobbled an opportunity. Did you say yes or no when you really meant the opposite? Learn what you can from these scenarios and be grateful for new knowledge that will help you in the future.

Speaking of the future, it’s time to choose what’s moving ahead with you.That’s one of the most satisfying parts of being an entrepreneur: you get to choose. Bring into the new year only what you really want. Jettison what you don’t. This is the time to be picky – there’s no reason to carry unwanted extra baggage, or things that no longer fit you. And if you’re feeling a little uncomfortable about the whole thing, awesome! The best stuff happens when we’re comfortable being uncomfortable.