There’s a shift that happens around this time of year. Maybe it happened for you last week, or maybe it’s beginning to occur to you now: This year is almost over. Maybe it passed quickly for you, or slowly. Maybe it was filled with great advancements and achievements, or maybe it was pockmarked with disappointments and roadblocks. However this year went for you as a leader, looking back and taking stock of the past months will go a long way in propelling you forward into next year. Your leadership will benefit from a year-end review.
What does a personal year-end review look like? It looks like taking yourself seriously, making an appointment with yourself for a minimum of an hour, and answering a series of questions that will help you quantify your leadership growth.
The following 21 questions were originally curated by Paul Sohn, a leadership coach, blogger, speaker and author. Every leader should journal out these questions as a means to conduct a personal annual review.
- What activities made you lose track of time?
- For what do you deserve a pat on the back?
- In which area(s) did you thrive?
- In which areas did you struggle?
- If someone wrote a book about your life this past year, what kind of genre would it be? A comedy, love story, drama, or something else?
- Where and how did God work in your life this past year?
- If you had to describe your 2019 experience in three words, what would they be?
- What was your most common mental state this year (e.g., excited, curious, stressed)?
- What three books had the greatest influence this past year?
- What was your favorite place you visited in 2019?
- What was your single biggest time waster this past year?
- What was the best way you used your time this past year?
- What, or who, are you most thankful for?
- What advice would you give your early-2019 self if you could?
- What one thing would you do differently and why?
- What did you think about more than anything else?
- What topics did you most enjoy learning about?
- How did your overall outlook on life evolve?
- What was your favorite compliment that you received this year?
- What was the most important lesson you learned in 2019?
- What was your biggest revelation or enlightenment in 2019?
Take time to drill down on these questions. Write down your answers, and find opportunities where you can share what you’ve learned.
Paul Sohn’s vision is to empower leaders to rise to the top of every sphere of influence. Paul worked at both a Fortune 50 company and a Great Place to Work Company. He now works as a leadership transformation consultant at GiANT Worldwide. He has been ranked as the #15 of world’s top 50 leadership bloggers to follow. Christianity Today magazine named Paul as one of the Top 33 Under 33 Christian Millennials to Watch.
These 21 leadership questions originally appeared here on December 28, 2014, and are used by permission of the author.
