End of year reflection
As the end of the year is approaching, it poses a good time to self-reflect and evaluate your career goals.
• Do you enjoy your current job? Or do you want to consider a change?
• Where do you see your career in the future? How are you going to plan to get there?
Setting and pursuing goals can help you achieve growth, satisfaction, and fulfilment in your career. However, goals are not fixed and need to be reviewed and adjusted from time-to-time. Therefore, it is important to evaluate your current position within your career and reflect about where you want to be in your future career.
Self-reflection is a tool that can help us learn more about ourselves and our career journey. It involves being present with yourself, focusing your attention on your thoughts, feelings and actions. It also plays a key role in self-development and is a required skill for personal growth. Being able to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, reflect on your performance throughout the year and thinking about what you have done well and not so well, can help you identify next steps for personal growth and improvement.
Reflecting on your professional experiences and learning from them can influence your career choices. For example - reflecting on a presentation you gave may make you realise that signing up to a public speaking course could be valuable. Or perhaps you decide to engage with a mentor/coach after you struggle to handle a conversation with your manager. You may discover a mismatch between your personal values and what you stand for vs. the career path you have chosen, and therefore you may have to make some decisions about what you will do next.
Self-reflection provides us with many benefits, both personally and professionally. These include:
• Increased self-awareness and your understanding of others
• Improved communication, decision-making and creative thinking skills
• Deeper alignment with your core values and understanding your purpose and potential
• Greater accountability and sense of control
• Building self-confidence and highlighting your strengths and improving your weaknesses
• Encouraging engagement in your work
Reflection prompts action, so you can use the thoughts and lessons you learn about yourself to take the next step forward in your career.
Some ways that can help you practice self-reflection include:
• Ask yourself open-ended questions to prompt self-reflection - What am I most proud of this year? Am I doing what makes me happy? What goals and commitments did I achieve? What's something I wanted to complete this year but didn't make time for? Did I overcommit? What could I have done differently? What can I improve on? What do I want to prioritise and focus on in the following year? Notice what thoughts and feelings come to mind for each question and then begin to think about why.
• Keep a journal - Journaling your thoughts and responses to these questions is a great strategy for self-expression. It can be helpful to look back at your responses, read how you handled/overcame things in the past, assess the outcome, and look for where you might be able to make changes in the future. It doesn’t matter whether you decide to use an app or a notebook, writing down your thoughts becomes an actionable thinking tool.
• Try meditation - Meditation can also be a powerful tool – even if it’s only for five to ten minutes, practice sitting in silence and paying attention to which thoughts enter and exit your mind.
• Make a self-reflection board - For those of you who are more visual, creating a self-reflection board of your positive attributes can be motivating. Add to your board regularly and celebrate your authentic self.
• An appropriate environment - Finding a quiet location with no interruptions is important for reflection. If your workspace is too loud during the day, consider waiting until you are home to sit down and reflect. If it is too busy at home, find somewhere relaxing and distraction free to review what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what you plan to do next.
• Imagine the alternatives - Ask yourself “what if” questions. What would have happened if you made different decisions during a particular process or project? Would you have reached closer to your end goals or not? How would the outcome have been different?
Finally, turn your reflection into action. While we all have competing priorities, setting aside time to learn more about ourselves is key for guiding ourselves towards our career dreams.
What are your career goals for the new year?
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