2016 has been a big year! We’ve lost some amazing creative heroes from our planet, gained Zika, lost Brangelina and then there’s that whole Trump thing. I am personally pretty ready to fare this year well.

Before I get geared up for the new year I always take a minute to take stock of the year that has been. In the past I have been notorious for constant goal post shifting and under appreciating my achievements.   And I can tell you first hand that this can be a very demotivating and draining way to work long term. Setting bigger and better goals, growing and developing is fantastic but for me it has had to be balanced by a bit of self reflection and self congratulation!

So press print on this free PDF and kick back with a cuppa and do some reflecting. Even if it just for half an hour, it’s time to give yourself props for a year well done.

Major Goals Kicked

Hopefully you started out the year with an action plan for what goals you wanted to smash out of the park in 2016. Even if you didn’t formalize (which I reaaaaalllly recommend you do for next year so check out my free workbook for your 2017 goal setting and this blog), chances are you floated some big ideas and dreams with friends, colleagues and loved ones somewhere around this time last year. Now is the time to make note of what those BIG achievements were and high five yourself in a major way. Hells even share it out on social media. You worked hard for what you’ve done, celebrate it and be proud.

Smaller Achievements (‘cause they all add up)

It’s easy to fob off the smaller achievements you managed as unimportant or worth less than your bigger acheivements, but it’s in the smaller day to day that much of the magic happens. Take some time to acknowledge the, sometimes less sexy, baby steps that moved you closer to your dream destination.

Learning Curves

This is one part taking note of the things you actively learnt in a formal way, all the skills you developed and made an effort to acquire. It’s reflecting back on where you were at January 1 with your knowledge and skills base and noticing how far you’ve come. It’s also about the stuff that went wrong and what that taught you as an artist, business owner, creator and human being. It’s that old adage, when you lose don’t lose the lesson. As Bill Gates said, “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” Chances are all the things that went off the rails, not as planned or straight out bombed, handed you some amazing learning curves.