Your Year in Reflection: 3 Powerful Prompts to help Teams and Individuals Reflect on 2022
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Does the end of year feel like a rush towards the Christmas finish line for yourself and your team? In the Southern Hemisphere the weather is typically warmer (hello Summer!), the days are longer and our urge to be near the beach and relaxing with whanau (friends & family) is high. Hold on, my friends! Before we get there I want to gift you a process to use solo or with your teams to help you close off 2021 in an intentional way.
Hi, I’m Jen!
I’m a coach, facilitator and speaker on wellbeing and people development (and founder here at Intentional Generations).
I’ve been using this process every December since 2017 and credit it with (A) helping me keep things in perspective, (B) helping me to refine what I’d like to focus on in the following year AND (C) helping me remember what on earth happened during the year! Plus… an unexpected side effect is that it gives you extra things to talk about with family members at Christmas time or with friends during the holiday when they ask “so, how was your year?!” You’re welcome ;)
Our founder Jen credits regular reflection, journalling and “slowing down to speed up” as one of the things that helps her succeed
This Margaret Wheatley quote summarises the intention behind this process:
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful
- Margaret Wheatley
So, let’s close off 2021 in an intentional way.
Aims of this reflection activity
Celebrate what went well
Leverage what you learned
Let go of what’s holding you back
How to use this process in 2 different ways
You can do this activity in 2 ways:
Solo: go somewhere you won’t be distracted or disturbed with your pen and journal. You’ll also want a copy of your year’s calendar for reference. Going for a walk somewhere in nature where you can look out over a view is especially good for a reflection activity like this. Give yourself adequate time for reflecting on these questions - 20 - 40 minutes is a nice amount of time.
With your team: write the questions one at a time up where everyone can see them. Allow people time to reflect on them individually (encourage them to spend at least 2 minutes journalling or to come with prepared responses to the team catch-up) and then encourage different group members to contribute. This is a great team connection and reflection activity for the end of the year - to acknowledge your team members for getting through 2021 together, to capture learnings from the year and to plant a few seeds for conversation starters and possible projects/priorities in 2022.
Important note: This process is customisable - the prompts are designed as “starting points” - adjust the prompts to fit in with your context (individual vs with your team/organisation) :)
3 Powerful Prompts to help Teams and Individuals Reflect on 2021
1. What did you do, create or experience this year that you’re really proud of?
We start with this question as it’s part of our human nature to focus on the negative or problem solving instead of celebrating our achievements or progress.
Celebrate the big AND the small achievements and learnings. Write it all down! Some people like to turn this into a visual format, e.g. a “celebration board” so that they can remember these things more regularly. Don’t underestimate the power of writing these things down - it can give us a greater sense of perspective on our lives, help us to focus on our strengths and positive attributes and increase our happiness.
2. What mistakes did you make that taught you something? What lessons did you learn that you can leverage?
This part is really important. It’s easy to focus on mistakes in the moment and beat ourselves up about them. When we can reflect on our mistakes from a distance (e.g. a month or few months later when the emotional attachment to the mistake is diminished) we can harvest the gold from them.
So, what didn’t go well? How can you do better next time?
3. What are you willing to let go of?
This is a big question that I encourage you take the time to reflect on. There are two parts to this question:
Commitment Cleanse:
What are the projects, goals or the things that have been hanging around on your to-do list for years that you never get around to? These things are like open tabs on your internet browser - they’re sneaky little energy drains as they distract from our focus on the task at hand. Non-essential commitment that adds nothing to your life, work or happiness? It feels SO GOOD to drop these commitments like a hot rock!
These questions help with determining what’s non-essential for you: What’s no longer aligned with who you are right now, who you want to be in the future or where you want to go?
Emotional Excavation:
Internally: what resentments, angers, hurts, guilt, shame, embarassments etc are you willing to let go of?
What stories are no longer serving you?
For example: “I’m too old/too young/too [insert other descriptor]/not successful enough to do [insert goal/activity]”
… Is this true? What story would better serve you?
For example: “I never create/produce things fast enough”
… Is this always true? Find evidence that proves the story false.
For example: “Other [person/organisation] [insert comparison]”
… How do you know that this is true? How are you uniquely you and provide value and strength in other ways?
Who might you be if you let go of these disempowering stories?
This quote shows the power of this third prompt:
It’s not till you let go of something that you see how it’s been holding you back
- Marie Forleo
Reflection + Action:
We’d love to hear your reflections! Let us know on social (links in footer of website) or by emailing us at hello@intentionalgenerations.com
What is:
ONE thing that you’re proud of doing, creating or experiencing in 2021
ONE thing that you learned in 2021
ONE thing that you’re committed to letting go of
What about 2022?!
We’re releasing a FREE resource in January 2022 to help you and your team with further reflecting on 2021, setting yourself up for success and starting 2022 on an empowered note.
When you sign up for the 2021 Reflection Resource we’ll also make sure that you get sent the 2022 planning resource to use yourself or with your team!
