Questions to ask yourself before 2021 starts

Starting about two years ago, I started doing an end of the year review of myself.

Here are the questions that I am currently answering and will answer to assess how this year went, where I can continue to grow, and what I need to do in 2021 to level up.

A note: Most of the answers to some of these questions can be “COVID.” It’s easy to write off COVID as an excuse, but I challenge you to look within yourself and focus on the things you were able to control rather than your external environment. Remember, this is a personal exercise with the goal of uncovering shortcomings and flaws. We all have them.

If you’re doing it right, you should feel very uncomfortable with the reality of some of the answers.

Here are the questions:

What did I want to accomplish this year?

Did I accomplish those things? If so, did I underestimate myself last year? If not, what got in my way?

How bad did you really want to accomplish those goals? Did your actions follow that desire?

What goal did you spend the most time on?

How often did you try new things or put yourself out there? How often were you uncomfortable?

What new skills did you learn? What new skills did you want to learn?

In the past year, how many of the things that you were afraid of actually came true?

What have you changed your mind about in the last year?

What held you back the most this year?

What frustrated you the most this year?

What’s your biggest regret of the past year? What was something that you wanted to do but didn’t? Why? What held you back from pursuing it? Where would you be right now if you did pursue it?

Do you believe you’re a better person than you were a year ago?

Did you spend your time wisely?

What was your greatest accomplishment of 2020?

What was your greatest failure of 2020? Did you learn anything from it? Did you get up and try again?

There’s this principle of the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule is that 20% of the actions you take give you 80% of the results you see. What were the top 20% actions/routines/etc. that brought the most results in your life? Can you cut out everything else and do more of what works?

How have you let other peoples’ opinions change your course of action? Did you give up any of your goals or ambitions because you felt other’s would have made fun of you, questioned you, or would have not understood you?

Take a look outside of yourself and think about observing your past year from a total stranger’s viewpoint. Take out your thoughts and emotions about what happened and just consider the actions you took.

• Did your actions align with your goals?
• Did your actions align with your values? Do you have values that you live by?
• Think about the person you want to (and know you can) be. Does that person live a life like the one you just did?

Towards the end of this exercise, I create a spreadsheet of my current situation.

• What are my current routines and what is the benefit of them to the values I want to live and the goals that I have.
• Where is my money at? I create a spreadsheet of all the accounts I have (savings, checking, Roth IRA, investing, etc.) and just take a tab of how much is in each account.
• Then I take a look at what I’m expected to make next year and see how I plan on growing those numbers.
• I then create a list of all my current expenses.
• I then create a plan for each month next year on how much I’ll save, invest, spend.

If the world continues to be how it is today (COVID, political mayhem, etc.), how will you rise above it? If you allowed those things to stop you from progressing this year, did it help you out? Did it make you happier? Did it make you a better person? What can you do to continue to hit your goals no matter what happens around you?

What’s the most important skill you can obtain that will level you up the most next year? (Ideas: Sales, Public Speaking, Financial Literacy, Working Out, Health and Nutrition, Writing, etc.) Suggestion: Once you decide, buy a course or book on it right now and start on it. Commit to making the change right now by investing into it.

I hope these help you visualize and create a plan for next year.

All of the reflection and thought exercises don’t mean much unless you act on it. Get after it!!