January 1st is approaching: time to do a nice review of the year that is about to say goodbye.
"It is not the years of your life that matter, but the life in your years."
A. Lincoln.
Un tree to extend its branches it needs deep roots. The same goes for us. If we want the new year to be different, better, we must first turn our gaze to the year that has just ended.
To do this I adopt a simple strategy ...
My annual review
For some time now, at this time of year - generally December 28, my birthday - I like to carve out an hour to take stock of the last 12 months and think about what I want to achieve in the next 12: I use these 60 minutes to understand: 1) which goals I have achieved 2) which I have not achieved 3) what I did wrong 4) what worked.
I call this hour my "annual review".
For better or worse we all know what went wrong in the past year; we are also on average dissatisfied with what we have achieved, but we don't care too much about why some things worked and others didn't. Basically, we sail blindly.
Like rudderless ships we face the new year in the hope that something can change, but we always fall back into the same mental traps, the same behavior patterns, the same mistakes.
Last week I suggested you 7 guiding principles taken from Bushido, from which to draw inspiration for the new year. In this last article of the year I'd like us to do one together annual review.
I will accompany you by bringing you the most significant articles and resources that I have published on GetPersonalGrowth in the last 12 months. You, if you wish, re-read these contents and use them to highlight the 4 items of which I told you a few lines ago: 1) the goals you have achieved 2) the goals you "failed" 3) the mistakes you made 4) the strategies that have proved most effective for you.
Are you ready? Read the contents that I will propose to you and write down your annual review.
An effective year
Here is the GetPersonalGrowth content that has garnered the most interest in the last 12 months (and which I am sure will be useful for your annual review):
- How to free yourself from perfectionism and enjoy life. Perfectionism is undoubtedly one of the most insidious mental traps many of us fall into. Looking back on the past year, how many times the “Mr. Perfettino "that is in you made you delay the start of a project or did it expand it to such an extent that it derailed you from your initial goals?
- 10 questions to understand what to do in life. Goals, resolutions, and annual reviews are pretty useless if they don't fit into a larger life plan. No one expects you to know exactly who you will be or what you will be doing 10 years from now, but knowing the direction to start exploring is critical to your personal growth.
- Practical tips to conquer the world. If there is anything that has worked for me in the last 12 months (or rather, the last 12 years) it is definitely the philosophy of the baby steps. The article I linked to you highlights what the exponential effect of many small daily actions accumulated on each other can be.
- APP - Self-esteem step by step. In June of this year, I published my third personal growth guide. The title of the manual takes up the theme of self-esteem, but anyone who has read APP knows that my approach to this "subject" is a little different from that of the various para-gurus. Let's say that I strongly believe in “practical” self-esteem, that is the self-confidence that is nourished thanks to our daily actions and our ability to keep the promises we make to ourselves and to others. And even in this case, the rule of small steps applies, or rather "step by step".
"Having low self-esteem is like walking the road of life with the handbrake on."
M. Maltz.
- The common denominator of successful people. There is a habit that more than any other can make a difference for you in the new year. This habit is the common denominator of those who manage to realize their most ambitious dreams in life. Let's see if you guess what it is ;-)
- How to study well and quickly: 3 foolproof strategies. University students have always represented an important share of GetPersonalGrowth's readers. It is no coincidence that the blog was created to collect the best strategies to be more effective in study, in work and in life. The 3 strategies suggested in this article, apparently, have been particularly popular with students of the blog. If you have ambitious academic goals among your New Year's goals, you need to read this post.
- I want to change my life, how do I do it? Accept the # challenge90901. The # challenge90901 has undoubtedly been one of the “effective catchphrases” of the last 12 months. If you haven't started one yet or have had a hard time completing the one you set out to do, there is no better time to pick up this article again.
- The 3 mental wankers you need to stop (now). I admit that the success of this article caught me off guard, but apparently its contents have impressed more than one reader. If doing too many mental wankers was one of the leitmotifs of the last year, in this post you will find useful ideas for your annual review.
- The formula for success. Mathematics can also motivate us at times. An example of this is the formula of the Japanese teacher “Sotuto Shimunito”. This formula, better than many words, summarizes that philosophy of the small steps that I have tried to make you fall in love with in these last 12 months. I bet a coffee that one of the mistakes you made in the year that is about to end was precisely that of not having been constant enough. Am I right or am I right ?!
I hope these resources guide you in your annual review, but most of all I wish you an effective 2022. I just have to say goodbye: we will reread in the new year.
