A year-end review for 2017

You can’t plan forward if you haven’t looked backward. So from that standpoint…

One of the first things you should do to plan out your new year is to do a year-end review of 2017.

This is something I do every year. Lot of times I go out in the RV to do all this stuff. But, basically, I’m looking backward to see how things have panned out. Things like…

• What actions did I plan for the year that I accomplished?

• What actions did I plan to do but never actually did?

• How much money did I make? Was it more or less than the previous year?

• What didn’t go according to plan?

• What did I learn this year that I can use to make things better moving forward?

But then, there’s also the lifestyle design aspect of things. I mean, it’s great to think about our blogs and our businesses, but the REAL reason we do it is to have the life we want, right? So, we need to look at it…

• Did I have as much fun as I’d like?

• Am I happy?

• Did my non-business goals move forward?

So, the idea is to look at all of this and simply write up an evaluation of the outgoing year.

Almost like you’re a doctor who is diagnosing a patient. Not that you have anything wrong with you, but it is about taking that outside view of your last year and evaluating it. The big picture view is really helpful. Often, we’re so busy living our day-to-day life that we forget to rise above it and look at it from the outside.

Anyway… I often do all this in the RV. You can do it wherever you like, but I find it is beneficial to do this in an environment OTHER than the one you usually work in.

Then, as you do it, think about how you might want to change things up in 2018.

• What areas would you like to improve?

• What constraints do you plan to alleviate?

• What is your ideal scene for 2018? As in, what should things look like for you a year from today?

Now, one last thing about a year-end review…

Don’t feel bad if you didn’t accomplish everything you might have wanted. Honestly, that’s kinda normal. I didn’t accomplish everything I set out to do in 2017 either.

But, that doesn’t mean we settle. We want to honestly answer the question of WHY we didn’t get those things done. What were the constraints? It’d he helpful to go back to the last 2 issues of The Daily where I talked about constraints and the UDE Matrix.

… because if there are things we didn’t accomplish that we intended to, there will be reasons for that. And you should spot it. And then see about how to reorganize things in 2018 to improve upon that.

It’s a super useful exercise. I highly recommend it. Would love to hear how it goes, or if you do this, too.

Alright, see ya tomorrow.

– David