Start With What Went Right

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I enjoy annual planning, something my husband and I do every year. I find reviewing and setting goals and strategies enjoyable. Can you guess what I love the most?

I just love our habit of reflecting on the prior year.

We start by creating the biggest list we can of everything that went right. It is surprisingly fun!

We write down every unexpected blessing. Unexpected challenges faced and overcome. Goals accomplished or even partially accomplished. Only the positive!

We use this step in our personal annual review as well as any team review and strategic planning meetings.

We never fail to recall blessings and accomplishments that had already slipped our minds. This provides a sense of accomplishment, encouragement and thankfulness. It gives inspiration to fuel the harder work of developing strategic goal setting for the upcoming year.

Our greatest unexpected challenge faced this year: Bud’s cardiac event and bypass surgery changed our year in, well, a heartbeat. But we identified it as a challenge faced, turning it to a positive and fostering a sense of accomplishment. Our greatest thankfulness for this year is God’s providence in providing all of the outstanding care Bud received.

Even secular social scientists now know and study the benefits of thankfulness and gratitude to foster greater mental well-being.

In our case, there were so many more accomplishments for which we are thankful.

One unexpected blessing was the positive feedback, encouragement, prayers and positive words from you our readers!

All the above now makes it much easier to examine the goals that did not get accomplished and determine what we need to do about it.

So how about you? What went right? What goals were accomplished or partially accomplished? What challenges did you face? What unexpected blessings occurred? What are you thankful for?

I would love to hear from you as you reflect upon these and other parts of your strategic planning for 2023.

Dr. JeannieDecember 25, 20221 Comment