How to Unlock the Positive Energy in your Year Review

​Does the thought of doing a review of your creative work and career over the past year give you the shivers?

Then chances are your year didn’t go as well as you’d hoped.

But don’t despair! By asking the right questions, your year review can be a source of energy. It can change the way you view the outgoing year and leave you refreshed and ready for a great year ahead.

But what do I mean by the ‘right questions’?

How NOT to do a Year Review

I see a lot of {well-known} bloggers saying that a year review can be boiled down to two questions: YES or NO. 

What went well? What didn’t go well? 

As a coach, I beg to differ. 

​Life isn’t binary. It has tones and shades. 

The importance is not in the yes or the no, but in the who’s and the why’s and the how’s.

It’s in the emotions, the challenges and the sparks. In the patterns, the relationships and the aha moments. It’s in the details. 

Asking yes or no won’t help you see or understand these things.
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Extracting the Power of the Year Review

Reviewing our year is an incredibly powerful tool for helping us direct our energies in the 12 months to come.

It can reveal how closely our expectations matched the real outcomes; the viability of the timeframes we set; and the degree of realism we applied to our ambitions.

Knowing where we’ve been is crucial to thinking about where we want to go.

But to extract that energy juice from the review process we need to pay close attention to what exactly we’re asking ourselves.

Importance of ‘Positive Questioning’

The kind of questions we use - even the way we phrase them - has more impact than we might realise on how the upcoming year will go.

If your questions result in you feeling excessively negative about the year that’s closing, you’re probably asking the wrong questions.

Your questions have failed to identify a lot of really good stuff that went on.

They haven’t brought to light the crucial insights that will help you make the coming year your best yet.
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When is a question not just a question?

The way we ask questions has a massive influence on the answers we receive.

If I ask you, 
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"Were you supported by people around you last year?”, you might say “No”. 

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You cast a quick glance around the usual suspects and come up empty. 

No-one much cared about what you did. Your husband took no notice. Your mother kept asking why you don’t paint ‘nice’ landscapes. Even your usually-supportive sister was rather absent in her attentions last year.

But if I ask you,
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“Who supported you last year?”

I’m implying that *someone* did. So you’ll rack your brains for an answer. ​
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Who DID support me?

Well there was the guy at the bus stop who picked up my paintings when they slipped out of my portfolio...

And the receptionist at the doctor’s who said that they could really use some new art on the walls and she’d mention my work to the doctor...

And the guy who runs the art shop who said I must be a serious painter if I get through that amount of cadmium red in a month.

And then there was...

And suddenly you’ve got a list of people who helped you over the humps and bumps of your creative year.

And you feel a lot more positive.

Yep, that’s why it’s called positive questioning ;)
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Drilling for Why

Of course, it’s not all roses. There’s going to be rough patches. Sometimes very rough ones. That’s ok. That’s how we learn. 

But if we accustom ourselves to define these experiences not in terms of success and failure, but in terms of difficulty, then all we need to do is situate ourselves on that spectrum. 

For example if you planned to redesign your website and found yourself lost down a rathole from which you never emerged, don’t ask
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“Was my website creation project a success or failure?”

​Instead ask, ​
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“Why was my website creation project harder than I expected?”

Then settle into some detective work that will lead you to greater understanding.

Starting with positive questioning will help you see that, inevitably it wasn’t all bad:
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“What did I manage to do that I didn’t think I would?”

(Give yourself a pat on the back for those parts!)

Once you’re feeling more positive, you can tackle the dark side.
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“What part did I get stuck on? Why?”

(Lack of knowledge, skills, insufficient planning etc.)

Instead of thinking you’re just incapable of redesigning your website ever, you’ll move you forward into solutions 
by highlighting the additional help/skills/planning you need to resolve your difficulties and complete the project.

You might even start viewing your website as a project that’s mostly completed rather than hopelessly lost.

So when you look back at your year, try to frame most of the questions in a way that ellicits a yes. 

And when you can’t get any more yes’s, instead of apportioning blame, mine for the nuances of what really happened. 

You’ll come out with a lot more realistic - and yes, positive - perspective on it your year this way. 

You’ll feel empowered instead of debilitated. 

And you’ll almost certainly have a list of hopeful and helpful ways forward.

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Ready to Unlock the Energy in your Year Review?

Could you use a year review that’s a bit more insightful and a bit less binary?
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​There's still a few places available for the Year Review Mini-Coaching Package!

For just £50 you get:

• Fun 8 page Year Review Worksheet
• Bonus-length 30 minute Skype call in which we deep-dive into the insights from your year
• 9 page Landmarks and Milestones Workbook for visualising your upcoming year (2018 ed.)
• Instructions + How to book your Skype call

I've also included bonus content:

• Elegant and simple timeline printable to visualise where you’ve been during 2020.

 ​Also does double duty as a planner for where you’re going in 2021

(Thank you Stephanie for the timeline idea!)

So don't miss out on all the goodness you can get from your year review process.
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I'm now taking bookings for the 2020 package. Hit the button to sign up!​

Book My Year Review

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