TIME TO REFLECT?

As the clock ticks down to the end of the year, are you taking some time to reflect on the past 12 months and think about any changes you want to make in 2026?

We’ve all seen various methods people suggest for ways we can (or should) look back at where we’ve been so that we can set goals and resolutions for the new year, some of which I’ve found more helpful than others in the past.

These days I’m not a big fan of new year resolutions, but a coaching client asked me a few days ago whether I have any set reflection process around this time.

After initially saying that I don’t, I realised that for the past couple of years I have done something that has been really powerful.

I’ve read back through old journals from the last year.

It hasn’t registered in my mind as a new process or fixed system I use because it’s something I’ve done without really thinking about it but, having done it two years running, I’m now recommending it for others to consider and keeping it in mind for future years.

The great thing about it has been reading back through my own thoughts and feelings and being able to see from a distance what things I was getting right and where I was making mistakes without being aware of them at the time.

The deeper I’ve gone into my own journey of self-discovery, the more I’ve seen how amazingly crafty our ego is at blinding us from our own bullshit in an attempt to keep us stuck in our comfort zone where it feels safe, so reading back allows me to see where the ego was at play and learn from those mistakes to do as much as I can not to repeat them over the next 12 months.

Obviously, the only way you can read back through journals is if you’re already keeping them, which I appreciate most people don’t.

When I started transforming my life almost eight years ago I was dead against journaling.

I thought it was from the realms of the woo-woo nonsense self-help world and couldn’t see how it would help me.

All these years later, though, having experimented with different ways of going about it, I now get a lot from reflecting at the end of each day as well as using it as a tool to make sure I’m fully processing and feeling my emotions, rather than just suppressing them as I’d done throughout my life.

If you don’t yet do any writing to reflect on your days or weeks, it’s something worth considering for the new year, not least because this time next year you’d then have something to look back on to see how you’ve progressed (or not).

Even if you don’t yet write anything down, you can still take some time to look back over the year month by month and reflect on the things you did, or didn’t do, that you can learn from going into a new year.

There are very few, if any, humans on the planet living lives that can’t be improved, so no matter how good or bad your life currently is, I’d say it’s worth taking some time to reflect on life and any ways you could improve it.

When you look back properly you might be surprised what you can learn, as well as thinking more about whether the path you’re on is one you want to keep walking along or whether it’s time to change direction.

If you decide to reflect and would like some help figuring out which parts of your life are going well and which could do with some more focus, you can take my Fulfilment Quiz. It’s free, only takes a few minutes to complete and you get the results immediately. Just click here.