A Personal Mid-Year Review: How Are YOU Doing?

In business the end of the first half of the year marks a time to sit back and examine how things have been progressing. Stock prices, employee involvement, productivity, sales, and goals are all poured over in detail. If this is seen as so important for businesses to do (when done correctly of course), why do we tend to neglect examining our own progress?

So whether you make New Year’s resolutions, more formal personal goals or just set general life directions for yourself it’s a good exercise to examine your progress towards your personal goals. Here is how I do my personal mid-year reviews for my family, financial, health, spiritual and educational goals.

How to do a personal mid-year review

1. Revisit goals. Take a look at the goals you came up with earlier this year (or even last year). Beside each one make an update of your progress on that goal. Have you made any headway? Are you finished already? Basically anything you’ve done or are doing to see this thing to the end, write it down.

2. What went really well? After updating your goals think about all the things you’ve accomplished that aren’t on that list. Include things such as:

• Instances where you went above and beyond the call of duty.
• New things you tried that you never thought you would do.
• Activities that unexpectedly brought you joy.
• Praise or positive feedback you received for something you did.
• An activity that brought you great success (however you define success).

The point with this exercise is to get a clear picture of what you’ve done, what direction you’re headed and if what you are actually doing is in line with the goals you set out to accomplish. Becoming aware of activities, that unexpectedly brought you joy for example, can change your direction and result in a much happier, more fulfilling later part of the year.

3. List resources for success. Basically, what do you need to successfully achieve the goals that are still appropriate for you? List out material items such as software, notebooks, and reference materials – but don’t stop there. Remember that people are a fabulous resource. Seek out those who have achieved similar goals or who are experts on the topic of your goal. Use the Internet to locate people around the world that have experience doing what you want to do and send them a friendly, sincere, but brief email requesting their help. The majority of the time people are more than willing to help.

4. Looking forward. Take a minute and give some thought to what is coming in the next 6 months. Special events, holidays, parties, celebrations, major milestones etc. Can any of these things be tied to your goals? For example, if one of your goals is to be more involved in your community are there any garage sales, block parties, fall suppers, or Christmas toy drives coming up that you can participate in? If not, is this something you can initiate and take the lead on?  By being proactive now and looking for activities for the next 6 months you are less likely to miss a great opportunity.

5. Celebrate. Get used to the idea of celebrating your successes. Even if you haven’t accomplished all that you set out to do, celebrate the fact that you have made a step in the right direction, no matter how small.  Don’t beat yourself up over not getting as far as you should have or could have. Realize there really is no “should” or “could” there’s only what is.

It’s good to check in occasionally and take note of where you are. Are you happy with the direction you are moving in? Are you doing things from a position of happiness, joy or love? Or out of obligation, guilt or manipulation? Spend 30 minutes or so on your mid-year review and work at aligning what you feel with what you do.  If you do what you love, you’ll love what you do.

Do you do mid-year reviews? What approach do you use? What’s been most helpful?

See also:

How To Choose Goals And Ensure Success

Focus On Your Strengths

An Alternative to Goals

How To Live The Life You Want: Follow Your Dreams

Picture courtesy of: tjtrewin