Looking back to see how far you have come is so important so you can validate the work that you did and actually realize that the needle did move forward…even if it wasn’t a lot. Slow progress is still progress. If you don’t look back, then you miss a lot of the amazing work that you are doing. Seeing that the work is actually paying off helps to rejuvenate and renew you. However, sometimes we don’t always know what we are looking for in our reflections of our work. I decided to create a roadmap for myself to help me navigate how I reflect and to help me know what I should look for. Here are some areas that I reflect on in my leadership and personal accomplishments within a year.
Determine your Baseline evidence – I always make sure that I set some kind of baseline evidence right at the beginning of my year to set up a starting point for me to look back to. So for me, I have a leadership priority roadmap that I create for myself where I choose a top priority and three actions that I will do to conquer that top priority. For example, one of my top priorities one year was to start to develop automated systems for certain things so that I didn’t always have to start from scratch every year. I set up a monthly roadmap of duties that came up each month. That roadmap set me up for my baseline evidence. This year, my priority was to set up automated systems in my administrative duties. I set up a month by month roadmap of responsibilities so that I would never have to think about or wonder what is coming each month and then I hyperlinked documents, templates, system operating procedures to that. This started out as a blank template so I could see when I looked back what I added to it and the work that was linked to it. Some other examples of baseline evidence that I have gathered in the past are meeting agendas, to do lists, goal lists, pictures, videos, or co-constructed criteria. If it is a personal accomplishment, it might be a before photo, a menu plan, a journal entry, a budget template to control spending, vision board, etc.
Identify three actions that you did to move towards your priorities – When I look back on my year, I intentionally identify three actions I implemented to move towards my goal. If I didn’t identify at least three, then I can set a goal to start to take more action. So three actions I identified for my top priority this year to set up automated systems to help with productivity and efficiency, were to complete a 12 month dashboard of tasks and hyperlinks that happened this year. I set up an automated system for frequently asked questions and a leadership meeting template for teacher leaders to implement to help with automating meetings to get more done more quickly. If you find that you are not finding any actions happening then that is a great reflection for the upcoming year.
Look at evidence that you actually shows you progressed towards your goal – Think about when you try to do a workout program and they ask for before and after pictures and measurements throughout. This is valuable evidence to see that the small changes still matter and can help to motivate and inspire you to keep going. Sometimes we don’t even realize the progress we have made until we make an intention to look back at the evidence of progress. This evidence might be work samples, meeting templates, meal plans, student/teacher notes, surveys, etc. There are no rules just look for clues that your hard work is making a difference. No one wants to keep working so hard when it isn’t making a difference. This really helps you to see if you are putting your A+ efforts in the right place.
Set up a ‘from and to’ outcome at the beginning of the year – Think of this statement as a ‘future pace’ comment to give you a clear idea of how you want to feel by the end of the year. I like to call this a ‘From and To’ statement. It is a promise to yourself of a feeling you want to have after you have done the work. So for me, my ‘from and to’ promise to myself was, “This year, I want to go from feeling unclear of my tasks each day and feeling overwhelm to feeling clarity in my top priorities and less overwhelm because I have automated systems in place wherever I can.” In other words, I wanted to go from starting from scratch every year to never starting from scratch again because I have set up automated systems and templates. Another example I have is a personal promise, “By the end of this month/year, I will go from feeling bloated to feeling lighter and more clear because I have implemented a gut health protocol meal plan.” By setting up a promise about how you want to feel sets you up to chase a feeling rather than numbers. Feelings matter more than data. Data just adds to the feeling but the feeling is what you are really after. At least that is where I have found my most clarity and motivation in what I want to accomplish.
Here is another example of a promise statement that I got from Amy Porterfield that you might want to use:
“The next 6-months will be wildly successful as I help [fill in who you will help] accomplish [fill in how you will help]. My leadership will flourish from the results I get by completing [fill in the projects you will work on]. I will make [insert measurement number] because [fill in your motivation]. As I achieve my leadership goals, my personal life will flourish through [insert personal goals].”
Be sure at the end of the year that you revisit that promise and see if you feel the way you had hoped.
Last but not least, set up a celebration to validate the work you did. You worked hard and even if you didn’t get exactly what you were hoping for, your work means something and so do you. So celebrate the crap out of that! Maybe you set up a bbq, a trip, some downtime, a spa date, a shopping spree, etc. Whatever it is, set up celebratory moments throughout the year (not just at the end) to validate your amazing work. Because you work hard and it it is not benefitting you then why the heck are you doing the same thing year after year. Oh yea, reflect on the benefits of your work too and make sure you are reaping those benefits. If you are not, maybe there needs to be a shift there too. Anyways, I digress….
Look back to see how far you have come and to help you see your next steps. If you do, you will find pride in your work and your accomplishments and you deserve to be very proud of yourself. With that pride comes the motivation to keep going instead of burn out. So here’s to you, my friend and all the work you do. Thank you for leading in others and in your own life to design the life you want. Well done!
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