What are the three things that you need to do as you begin the new year?
Number one: Review. Billy Wilder said, “Hindsight is always 20-20.” That means you can see it very clearly. Wilder, one of the best filmmakers of all time, is encouraging us to look back and review what happened.
What were your activities last year?
What were your behaviors in certain situations – when you were happy, when you were irritated, when you were encountering problems, when challenges were coming, or when successes were being celebrated?
What were your choices? What did you choose to do and not do? How did you decide on certain things?
My friend, I am encouraging you right now to look back and review what were your activities, how did you behave in certain instances, and what were your choices.
In other words, what did you do? Review them.
Number two: Reflect. Andy Stanley said, “Experience does not make you wiser. It is evaluated experience that makes you wiser.” That is the importance of reflection. As you review, you reflect and evaluate.
To evaluate, you may ask these two questions: What went well? What can be improved? In other words, you ask yourself, “What did I learn?”
“If those were my activities, if those where my behaviors, if those were my choices, what went well and what can be improved?”
Number three: Recast. Alex Morgan said, “Dream big because dreams do happen.” This Olympic gold medalist is encouraging us to dream big and to recast our dreams, our visions, our goals, our plans.
How do you see yourself in the coming year? What are your goals in the next three months, in the next six months, and in the next twelve months?
What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to experience? What are the emotions you want to feel? What are the things that you want to do?
What are your plans? What are the activities that you need to do to accomplish those goals?
What do you have to do?
As you begin the new year, consider these three actions: review, reflect, and recast. I hope these would help you have a more meaningful welcoming of this year. And as you bid goodbye to the year that just ended, you’ll make it count – not just with the things that you have accomplished but also of the person that you have become.
A blessed 2019!
(Chris Dao-anis, CPA, DTM is a communication and leadership trainer, inspirational speaker, and author of 4 books. His latest book ‘SPEAK: How to Craft and Deliver a Speech or Presentation’ is available at Mt. Cloud Bookshop, Casa Vallejo, Upper Session Road, Baguio City. You can register to his workshop ‘SPEAK 2.0: Boost Your Confidence in Public Speaking’ at http://bit.ly/SpeakBaguio, or enroll in his Speaker’s Course at http://bit.ly/speakerscourseph and avail of tons of bonuses. For speaking invitations, you may email him at info@chrisdaoanis.com or text 0945-761-6577.)
