I know it’s that time of the year where everything is coming to a close – end of fourth quarter, closing down businesses for the holidays, end of year parties, and so on and so forth. With that also comes, end of year reviews – both personal and career reviews.
So you’ll notice a lot of “The Year in Review” going on all around us right now – formal and informal. And as human beings, we can’t help to review our own lives too. And that’s what I want to talk to you about today.
Studies have shown that we’re more likely to remember the negative things in our lives than the positive ones. That’s why being thankful is an important habit to cultivate.
The other day, I caught myself looking back to the “almost” past year. And all I could focus on were the goals I wasn’t able to accomplish. For a few moments there I became introspective and quite frankly a little down. No. Strike that. A lot down!!! Negative thoughts have a way of doing that to you.
But all of a sudden, I remembered a letter, I’d received during the week. Someone from Tasmania, Australia had sent me a note to say, “Thank You. Your generosity in sharing your info is wonderful!”. She’d downloaded a copy of my FREE marbling book. She told me she teaches a wide variety of surface design techniques in Australia.
So, I began to think about her note. How many of her students will learn marbling, how many will discover their creative gifts, stop procrastinating their joy and live more meaningful lives because their teacher downloaded my book? I would never know. If it’s just one person who discovers joy and shares it with her family, that’s one HUGE impact, I should be thankful for.
It’s easy to fall into a trap of ascribing value only to the tangible things you’ve accomplished during the year. That’s what I did.
When it comes to achievements, it’s natural to focus only on what we can see and touch like income, promotion, production, sales etc. But the intangible achievements related to impact, we readily discount.
Intangible Achievements Matter
What do I mean when I say impact achievements? Those are the things you did which affected the way you made people feel. The way you make them think about themselves, shift their mindsets and put them on positive trajectories, are powerful impact achievements. Yet we often discount them too quickly. Maybe because not many people notice or even get to hear about your impact achievements or tell you the impact you’ve had on their lives.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou
But the truth is, it shouldn’t matter whether your impact is on the life of one human or several. You should celebrate your impact no matter the size of your audience or the number of recipients.
Whether you’re a grandmom or mom nurturing creativity and teaching your children that it’s okay for them to freely express themselves or you’re an artist sharing your gift with the world, your achievements are made up of both the ways you impact lives as well as your tangible achievements. Don’t discount that.
Review Your Year the Right Way
In the next couple of weeks when you sit down with your cup of tea 🙂 to review your year, remember to add up your impact achievements. And as you set goals for the coming year, don’t forget to set some impact goals in addition to your income and other more tangible goals.
That way, you’ll have a more balanced outlook on your life’s achievements and your goals/mission.
Question: Do you consider your impact goals when reviewing your life or have you discounted them in the past? Leave your comments below.
Warmest Regards.
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Also published on Medium.
Impact goals!
What a huge idea this set of words hit me with.
It has not the year I planned or invisioned. I mean some of it was what my husband and I planned. But the advances in my area of focus my creativity stalled or did not turn out like imagined. I really thought I wanted to go in a certain direction but that turns out not to be what I really wanted or was practical for me to do.
But by reviewing my year to see what impact they have had puts things in another light.
Now I don’t know if you meant this when you said impact goals but here is an example. I really thought I wanted to vend at quilt shows. I worked most of the year on this idea but I kept meeting road blocks. I wanted to vend my hand dyes and indigo dyed fabric as well as a line of fabrics that I fell in love with in Houston last fall. As my very supportive hubby said it was not a boom or a bust. But what I did find was while I loved dyeing the fabric and meeting new people at a show it was not the fit for me. My health could not take the physical demands. So was that a failed goal…. I was thinking that but what the impact of trying that goal was I have created some wonderful fabrics. I have learned a valuable skill. I have really learned a lot about Colour. I have a great supply of fabric to use creatively. And I have been asked to teach at a local shop. The goal for the year was to set up to vend. That turned out to be a bad fit. But the goals impact has lead me down a much happier path. My creative ideas are up and running. I am fitting in my creativity in other ways and in smaller chunks I can handle physically. And I am loving teaching!
I am going to set my goals this year with what the impact could be.
Setting a goal and not fulfilling it does not have to turn into a negative if you can see what you have learned and try to see a positive impact.
Long explanation but is this kind of what you meant?
Jo
Jo,
Exactly!!! What I mean is we should set goals which make us happy and fulfilled. Not only those which make us money. And I hear you say your goals have led you on a happier path and you’ve discovered a love for teaching. That’s fantastic!!! What a better perspective it gives you when you review your year this way.
Clara
Great idea, as always.
This past year I accomplished some goals, stumbled on others, and downright blanked out on some. Such is life.
So during my year-end review I will concentrate on the going forward.
What did I learn?
Who did I encourage, and how?
What did I teach? to whom?
What did I enjoy? What spoke to my heart?
and then,
What will I do to go forward?
and, How to accomplish these new goals?
As always, you ask such meaningful questions, Clara. Love em.
Thanks, Kathy. You’re kind.
I love the questions you’ll be asking yourself when you review your year.
Best.
Clara.