Assess Your Progress

As we quickly approach the end of the first half of 2024, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on how far you’ve come since January. This is part one of four in the series, Stop and Think. For the next four weeks, we will discuss taking a moment to assess your progress and set yourself up for a successful second half of the year in terms of the time, energy, attention, and money you spend on your work. First up, let’s look at how you spent your time.

What Did You Do?

If you are surprised 2024 is almost half over, then you are probably caught up in getting your daily life done. It’s time to stop and celebrate the milestones you  reached so far. But reflecting on progress isn’t just about recognition. It’s also about understanding how you got it and using that insight to fuel future endeavors. Reflection should consist of both past and future. From where you are turn around and look behind you. What did you accomplish? Here are some prompts to help you think.

• Did you reach a significant milestone? For example: Did you get a promotion? Win an industry award? Secure a significant client?
• What was your biggest accomplishment? For example: Did you complete a degree or certification? Did a customer contact your manager and sing your praises? Did you fix an outdated process that saved the organization lots of money?
• What lessons have you learned from setbacks? For example: How did your coworkers react when they were frustrated? What affirmations did you tell yourself to make the setback a push forward? What process did you use to analyze your result and pinpoint where the setback began?

What Will You Do?

Now turn back around and look ahead at the rest of the year and consider what more you want to achieve. Look at your answers to the prompts in the last section. How will you build on those insights? Let’s take milestones for example. If your most significant milestone was a promotion, what can you do in the next six months to make management feel really smart for giving it to you? If you won an industry award, how can you use that platform to bring awareness to the great things your organization does for the community? If you secured a significant client, how can you leverage that relationship to include mentoring a junior member of your team?

How Do You Do?

Daily reflections may seem excessive, but jotting down thoughts and feelings can provide immediate insights and allow for quick adjustments. For example: What one thing stressed you out the most at work today?

Weekly reflections help you notice patterns and trends both in your performance and your well-being. For example: What changes would improve your worklife integration next week?

Monthly reflections are good for in-depth analysis and strategic planning. For example: Over the last four weeks, what part of your job did you enjoy most? What were you good at, but did not particularly enjoy? What did you dread doing? How can you do more of the first two and less of the third?

Regardless of the frequency, the key is consistency. What frequency of reflection feels sustainable as well as beneficial for you? Please share what works for you in the comments.