THIS YEAR’S OUTCOME
When you look back at this year, what’s the one thing you remember accomplishing that you’re proud of? This reflection matters more than you want to admit! Let your mind move past your surface-level ideas and reach the truth. Think back to the moment this year that made you smile the most in your personal life. Think about the moment at work that moved the needle. Want to know what these moments say about you? Let’s explore them. Remember, though, reflection only works when you slow down long enough to hear yourself. The truth usually starts to show up when you’re not rushing to find it. Are you willing?
If you can’t think of three separate accomplishments from the past year, keep trying. Everyone struggles with remembering their wins at first, so you’re not alone. Stop making excuses about how you can’t remember or how this was “just another year.” That’s you purposely downplaying yourself. People minimize themselves because it feels safer than acknowledging growth. To say you didn’t accomplish ONE meaningful thing the entire year is to say you’re choosing a limiting mindset (aka: complaining for the sake of complaining). Instead, shift your focus from what you didn’t do to what you actually accomplished.
Let’s use the following three prompts to give yourself a full picture of your progress:
- Your personal life – Think of the one thing that you did this year that carried the most weight for you. This should be something you sincerely enjoyed, have been wanting to get done, or feel a sense of pride over.
- Your work life – Think through the best moment you had at work that was a direct result of something you did or that you were a part of. It could be service-driven, organizational, or even the completion of a project that contributed to a bigger picture.
- Your overarching theme – Pick one constructive word to define this entire year. Do not let anything negative overtake your thoughts for this. The word you choose must define these past 12 months in a way that completes a growth-centered emotion, ignites a spark to keep fueling your momentum, or gives you a sense of completion.
Now that you have these three pieces, let’s break down what they mean.
Your Past 12-Month Personal Life Achievement
How does your chosen achievement make you feel? The emotion behind the memory can inspire you to pursue more of what brings you fulfillment. Hold on to that emotion and realize how it pushed you forward. When we focus on what we achieved, we connect with the emotions more than the milestones. These feelings unlock what you’re looking to find again. Maybe it was a sense of calm, a deeper connection, or some fully realized confidence. Every goal you set is tied to an emotion you want to come back to, and there’s power in acknowledging that in the now. Admit the emotion you want to achieve out loud to yourself because it’s an emotion you want to achieve again going forward.
Your Past 12-Month Work Life Accomplishment
What did this accomplishment give you? It might have offered proof of your capability or clarity about your strength. Did you gain confidence, evidence, or an unlocked tool? People grow by building on the positives that already exist. Progress isn’t built on chasing goal after goal, but by working toward a desired outcome. Tie yourself to that outcome, and you open the door to new possibilities. That great client memory from this year may be a recipe if you identify its ingredients. That promotion you got may have shown you something about who you are. The friendship you improved might have shown you what you’re looking for in the people that surround you. Your answer to this prompt gave you an insight key you can use right now if you can allow yourself to clearly identify it.
Your 12-Month Overarching Theme Constructive Word
Here it is. The way you’re positively defining these last 12 months. If you came to this word easily, either everything went your way the entire year, or you’re faking it through this article (which ultimately hurts you and those who look up to you). Take a moment to honestly assess whether your chosen word truly reflects your experience. The length of time you spend on this reveals how deeply you need to look at your year and whether your reflection is genuine. Authenticity in this process helps you connect more deeply with your growth and sets a solid foundation for future change.
Did you struggle to find positivity? Did you embrace one word quickly? Both could be signals that you’re avoiding identifying a personal truth. Maybe you struggled to admit how capable you were this year. Did you take a little time to look back on everything from the past twelve months to fully reflect on the highs and lows? The highs gave you moments of happiness, while the lows gave you lessons. Did you put all of them together to get to your word? The purpose of this prompt is to help you examine how well you reflect on your own purposeful growth. Consider what this reflection, not the word, says about your current state.
What It All Means
Today is no longer the past, and according to many salespeople, next month, you’ll be looking at the future more closely. This pattern repeats so dauntingly that most companies will focus their advertising on “preparation,” “improvement,” and “definition” in the first quarter, planning for earned breaks in the second quarter, a reignition and final push in the third quarter, and gratitude with a review in the fourth quarter. This matters because your own year probably followed the same rise, pause, push, and reflect cycle, and seeing that pattern gives you the power to break it. We’ve always been told that repeating actions while expecting a new result is insanity, yet here we are at month twelve reviewing while month one approaches.
This is where you have the power to shift EVERYTHING for the BETTER. Be in the now. You shift when you choose one thing to do differently instead of repeating the same habit. If you can acknowledge that you indeed have accomplished positive things this year, and you can reflect on what outcome you want, you can find something far better than a new version of the same goal. You can find yourself.
These patterns drain your momentum more than you realize.
- Stop people-pleasing.
- Surround yourself with people who challenge and support you.
- Stop allowing everyone else to drive you into repetitive patterns.
You haven’t been “stuck.” Even when you feel stuck, you are still moving in ways you may not recognize yet. You aren’t in as bad a situation as you claim, and you can find ways to feel more accomplished.
- Stop running away.
- Stop complaining.
- Stop avoiding conversations.
- Stop hiding from your fears.
- Face your anger.
- Face your courage.
- Allow yourself to lean into the cracks.
The only person capable of improving your life is you. You’ve already done more this year than you’re giving yourself credit for.
The only person who is going to create a better outcome over the next one, five, seven, or fourteen months is YOU. Success is not built on constant highs. It’s built on the idea that you allow yourself a space to be you. And when you allow it, clarity has more room to show up.
Whether you’re a medical professional helping the sick, a legal professional giving a voice to clients, an educator raising a future leader, or a teammate building a vision, you are a human who is part of a world that wants you to embrace it just as much as you should embrace yourself. You belong in the picture you’re trying so hard to paint.
Everything you want, whether it’s progress, connection, relief, or growth, becomes possible when you stop fighting yourself and start looking at the outcomes you want to achieve. The emotion you long for in your personal life and the formula for your work achievements are both considerations of outcomes you want. Lean into them.
Put your reflections somewhere consistently visible so you can remind yourself to act with intention. Let intention unlock the driving force inside you.
Your next positive outcome doesn’t need to begin on the 1st of January. It starts the moment you decide it does, and with some clarity, it can even start right now.
