“We must never become too busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw.” – Dr Stephen R. Covey

As we draw to the end of this year I encourage you to take the time to assess what’s been, where you have seen growth and where the challenges have derailed you a little. 

Often as leaders we are so busy looking forward, making plans, rolling out strategies for growth and on-boarding new team members that we forget to stop and look back… and yet there is so much gold in the data that time and experience offer. 

Here’s a few questions you can ask yourself and your team to help build a firm foundation for kicking off the new year: 

1. What goals did we set for this year that we did actually achieve? 
2. What goals were set that we did not achieve, and why not? 
3. Where were the key areas of growth this year? 
4. Where were the inefficiencies? 
5. Though we could not have planned for a global crisis, what have we learned from it? 
6. How would I summarize this year? 
7. Where was my time and energy spent this year? 
8. What areas do I need to step back from?
9. What areas do I need to pay more attention to and improve on? 
10. What would a successful 2021 look like? Define it. 

Spend some time really digging deep into these questions and reflect on them, document them and place them somewhere that you can come back on a regular occasion as a reminder of how far you’ve come and the path forward for your success and continual development.