As we near the end of the year, there is often a push to finish projects, meet deadlines, and prepare for the festive break. But what there is not always a huge focus on is reflection. This means that although it may feel quicker, more efficient, or simply easier to finish projects, we are often missing out on valuable analysis and information. Ensuring time at the end of the year to reflect on what you have (or haven’t) achieved allows us to use our knowledge to make better, more informed decisions, and perhaps most importantly, start the new year with insight and momentum.

Areas of Reflection:

Although reflection can take many forms, a great initial framework is to centre around three key questions:

What has happened so far?

Why did it happen?

How can/should we respond?

The starting place for any analysis is to look at the what, which means understanding facts and statistics, rather than assumptions and ideas. From there, we can move on to the why: if sales expectations are down from the goals or projections (based on the facts and statistics), why is that the case? This stage allows us to give context to the facts and information.

The final part of our initial framework combines the what and why, and allows us to look at how things can or should change, moving forward. For example, if sales haven’t met expectations, how will a team adapt their strategy to meet its goals from now on?

Meaningful Reflection in Practice:

Putting reflection into practice takes time, and can mean several things, but ultimately it comes down to turning experiences and progress into direction and guidance. Analysis allows us to understand and contextualise everything we’ve done in terms of where we are headed.

It also allows for more accurate projections and goals, and removes the possibility of repeating mistakes. A key way to ensure reflection and analysis help you build consistent progress is to move away from focusing on targets and deadlines as the end goal, and instead see the analysis of those targets and what you can learn from them ultimate goal.

Building Momentum with Reflection:

If used correctly, impactful reflection and analysis form part of a success loop. Action leads into Analysis (or Reflection), which leads to Adjustments, which leads back into Action, and that continues over and over. This means that putting reflection into practice is an essential part of success.

We can use analysis to assess our priorities and next steps. And the more we use it, the harder planning becomes without it. Focusing on short-term wins and steps without looking both backwards and forwards often leads to a lack of sustainability. Correctly using analysis to assess goals and progress allows us to build momentum and ensures we’re headed in the right direction.

Conclusion

Translating insights gained by our understanding of what happened, why it happened, and how we should respond, allows us to see patterns, problems, and behaviours that can form a strategy that helps build momentum and success. Analysis is an essential tool, and the end of the year is often the best time to do it, allowing for as good a start in the new year as possible.

For more ideas on how to stay productive and motivated (while still having fun) over the festive period, read our blog here.