Winding down here on another year with new mask mandates, closures, and what feels like more of the same -- another challenging year for so many, especially for young people, the elderly, and caregivers. The diminished (and in some cases total) absence of in-person social interaction has weakened our sense of connectedness and belonging. The constant reassessment of what’s safe to do and what’s not has been exhausting. And tragically, too many have lost family members, friends, and colleagues.
Many of us feel like we’re drifting, buffeted by uncertain winds. Learning to navigate in these times is hard. But psychologists agree that a few things can help:
Practicing meditation to learn how to diminish the impact of external stressors, especially persistent stressors like the virus.
Setting clear goals for yourself so you have a sense of direction and keep yourself engaged with challenges that you control.
Improving your ability to enter into the flow state so you develop your ability to step out of the pressures of the moment and lose yourself in work that’s engaging and refreshing.
We can’t control the virus, but we can control our response, our attention, and our schedule.
The personal “year in review” exercise strengthens your ability to navigate uncertain times. It’s an annual ritual that reconnects you with your values and goals, highlights your recent successes, and sharpens your focus on your goals for the year ahead. The review process helps you put your past year in perspective and turn toward the year to come. It’s not magic—it won’t erase or even diminish the pains of the past year—but it will help you lay the stepping stones for a better year to come.
I partnered with Cliff Guren, who I collaborate with on the SecondBrain SuperPowers program, to create this update to our annual review workbook we've titled: More About You: A Workbook for Your Personal Annual Review and Plan for the Year Ahead
In this second edition, we focused on enhancing two areas of the review and planning process that strongly affect your sense of well being: goal setting and the weekly review. Goals give you a sense of direction; regular reviews help you determine whether you’re on track. If you’re not on a path to success, regular reviews give you the information you need to correct your course while there’s still time for those corrections to impact the outcome.
It's now ready for download as a Microsoft Word document so you can type your responses directly into your copy of the workbook, and as a printable PDF so you can write your answers out in longhand if you prefer.
Download your free copy of our workbook here >>