10 Questions to Reflect on 2011

Yesterday I asked myself in my journal “What questions should I ask myself to reflect on this year?”.  I wanted to purely reflect on this year before thinking about next year.  It was hard not to get into questions like…so what would I do differently next year?  I wanted to really focus on this year first.

So here are my questions below. Please add any further ideas for questions in the comments box below.   I’m going to spend this week answering them for myself and then I will share my answers PLUS I will have another 10 questions to ask you about planning for next year!

10 Questions to Reflect on 2011

1. What has made me proud this year?

I love the song Proud by Heather Small -

“I step out of the ordinary
I can feel my soul ascending
I’m on my way
Can’t stop me now
And you can do the same
What have you done today to make you feel proud?”

What have I done this year that has pleased me and that I can credit to my hard work, initiative and creativity?

2. What's inspired me this year?

What were my sources of inspiration this year?   People, environments, quotes or sayings, videos (like TED videos) or movies, events, books - anything!

I’m looking forward to answering this question - should be fun to compile my list of inspirations this year.

3. What have I learnt this year?

What’s been my learning curves this year? Where have a grown the most?   Were these intended learning curves or spontaneous ones?

4. What rituals have worked well?

I love my daily, weekly and monthly rituals.  They’ve become pretty important to me in becoming the person I want to be.

Which ones have worked well this year?
 
5. What relationships have I built this year and how has this affected me?

Family and friends, business colleagues and community - it’s important to me to grow connections around me that feel strong, uplifted and that are mutually beneficial.

In this question, I get to ponder what relationships have I built and in what way?   Am I hanging around the right people? Are they lifting me up to be my best?

6. What times have I felt most empowered this year and what was I doing when I felt like that?

I want to think about the times where I’ve felt most empowered, and by that I mean - strong, capable, inspired, willing and happy!  What are the times that have brought the most joy to my life?

I want to remember to good moments this year that brought those feelings!  I think I will have to look through the journal to remember some of these moments!  Others I will remember in an instant!

7. How did I best utlise my strengths this year?

My top strengths, according to Authentic Happiness, are zest, enthusiasm and energy, gratitude, leadership, creativity, ingenuity and originality, hope, optimism and future-minded.

At what times did I use these to their best potential this year?

8. How did I focus on what’s fundamentally important to me this year?

I have a list of five fundamentals - these are what I live for.  They are love, leadership, health and wellbeing, creativity and compassion.

How and when did I focus on these this year?  How did it make me feel?

9. What am I grateful for?  

What were the things I’m most grateful for this year?  Good times and challenging times!  From the big things that happened to the tiny things.

10. How would I summarise the year that I’ve had?  What would be it’s theme, mantra or symbol?

Okay, last question.  If I had to summarise this all, what would that look like?

I’m really psyched about answering all these questions now.  It’s putting me into an excited and inspired state of being already - just thinking about all my answers!   I hope you put some time and energy into answering these questions too!   Why not grab your favourite drink, put some beautiful upbeat music on and go sit in your garden or your favourite chair and answer these for yourself!?  Meet back next week to see how we went and for another 10 questions for planning for next year!?