When I was growing up it felt like time pass so slow. And summer I couldn’t wait to go back to school. As I’ve gotten older though, time seems to just flyby. Now every December I can’t believe a year has almost past And there are only a few weeks left.
This year was no exception. Time has been flying by – it feels like just yesterday I was making my big plans for 2016.
Every December I like to set aside time to plan for the next year. I like to reflect on what has gone well, what I’ve learned, what I’ve accomplished, and all the goals that I’ve been working on the last year.
The first step to reaching your goals is to have a plan. And the best plans are written down. You can’t hit a target that you can’t see.
Now it’s time to make plans for 2017. And I have a set of worksheets in a four-part series that will help you lay out your goals and take you closer to your dreams.
This year has been a rollercoaster with big ups and big downs.
- I had a baby (exciting + happy, but hard being pregnant and then juggling all the responsibility of being a mom of 2)
- Ink + Volt has both failed (we had a trademark issue and had to rebrand, we spent a lot of money on things that didn’t pan out at all – like the National Stationery Show, our Kickstarter didn’t do as well as last year) and flourished (we started carrying more products, expanded our own product line, grown our revenue)
- I took on a larger role at Urban Influence and I am proud at what we accomplished but disappointed I wasn’t able to help grow this business in a major way.
- I blogged some and spoke at a few conferences but didn’t get even close to my goals in those areas. I didn’t read nearly as much as I normally do…
- I finally learned FB ads.
- I went on vacation to Hawaii.
- I spent too much money and didn’t keep in my budget.
- I failed on diet and exercise – there were too many days where meals consisted of things like pizza, candy and cookies.
Lots and lots of good and some not so good.
As I go into 2017 I want to learn from all the things I did – for the successes I want to reflect on what made those things awesome and how I can do more of that in 2017. And for the failures, well I want to learn from my mistakes; to understand why I failed and what is the core lesson I can learn from that experience.
The first part in this series is about looking back on the year behind and figuring out what you need to take from 2016. The next 3 parts in the series will be taking those lessons and incorporating them into an action plan that will help you reach your goals in 2017.
Download your “Looking Back on 2016” worksheet to get started.
Kate
