Fourth in the series: 8 Moves to Make 2015 Your Best Year Yet*
How do you respond if someone asks you how you're doing? If you're anything like me, your response runs from...
Doing great!
to
Exhausted -- I've never been so busy!
... depending on your mood, confidence level, and the person you're talking with. And that's as far as most of us get to taking stock about how we're really doing. Why? Because our inner critic tells us it's better not to know.
But nothing could be further from the truth -- trust me. By answering Best Year Yet questions 5, 6, and 7 you'll not only know exactly how you're doing, but also increase your confidence about improving performance in all areas of your life.
Move 5: Give yourself a performance review.
What are my personal values?
Now think about what's most important to you. What really motivates you and drives you? What do you care about most? The answers to these kinds of questions are your personal values.
As you plan 2015 first remind yourself of the passions that guide you. These values are not new to you because they've been leading you for longer than you can remember. Ones we hear frequently are:
- Integrity
- Family first
- Giving back
- Compassion
- Generosity
- Loving kindness
What roles do I play in my life?
Here's an easy question, but it creates a powerful framework for your performance review because it considers all aspects of your life. To answer this question, write a list of the roles you currently play, for example:
- Wife
- Mother
- Business Owner
- Friend
- Philanthropist
- Musician
Also include a role that you might want to begin playing in 2015, such as meditator, student, adventurer. And finally I insist that you include one role that's about taking care of yourself so that you have the energy and sense of balance to play your other roles in the way you want.
Call this one something like "my coach" or "my guardian angel." When you play this role, you're exercising, eating right, reading books you've been meaning to read -- whatever you need to grow as a person and take care of yourself.
The pain of not living a balanced life has been the No. 1 issue
for most of the people I've coached over the past 35 years!
How well are you doing in each of your roles? Read through your list and imagine how you'd be performing in each role if you were doing your best by your own standards. For example, what would you be doing as a business owner, if you rated yourself a 10?
Now rate your performance in each role by entering a score of 1 to 10 beside each one. Take a moment to appreciate the areas of your life in which you're doing well -- and then consider what's missing in the roles that you rated lower.
Which role is my major focus?
To complete your performance review and prepare yourself for setting goals for the coming year, ask yourself:
- If I could put one problem behind me, once and for all, what would it be?
Your most prevalent response to these questions reveals your major focus.
Remember that what you focus on is what you get, so keeping your attention on this role is well worth the investment of your time and energy.
My major focus for 2015 is writer, and for the first time in quite a while I'm feeling truly passionate about writing.
Be in touch if you have questions about how to make this work or perhaps want to share about your performance review or how you feel about your new goals. Either scroll to the bottom to the comments section or contact me directly at jinny@bestyearyet.com.
*Review of 8 Moves to Make 2015 Your Best Year Yet:
- Appreciate my success.
- Learn from my disappointments.
- Stop lying to myself about who I really am.
- Create my next year from the inside out.
- Give myself a performance review. (This blog.)
- Set my top 10 goals.
- Be accountable.
- Pay it forward.
For more by Jinny Ditzler, click here.
For more on life lessons, click here.
For more about Best Year Yet, click here.
P.S. If you want to complete your plan sooner, you have these options:
- Get Your Best Year Yet! -- there's a free workbook in the back of the book.
- Answer the questions online at bestyearyet.com.