Checking Your Position (A Year-End Life review)

“We can live any way we want. People take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience—even of silence—by choice. The thing is to stalk your calling in a certain skilled and supple way, to locate the most tender and live spot and plug into that pulse…I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you.” — Annie Dillard

When backcountry hiking through unfamiliar territory, one critically essential survival skill is to regularly stop, check your position, and get your bearings. You pull out the map, check the compass (or the GPS if you have one) and review where you’ve come from, verify where you are, and confirm or refine the course ahead. If you don’t take care to do this on a fairly regularly basis, you run the very real risk of losing your way, going off course, and running into danger.

In my coaching work, there’s a similar practice I encourage my clients to use at the end of every year as a way to evaluate the year that’s passing, get clear on where they are now, and set their course for the year ahead. I call it “checking your position,” and it’s basically the same process used by wilderness hikers, only instead of a map, we look at your life; and instead of a compass or GPS, the deep, true core of your heart.

In this season of reflection on the year that’s past and looking ahead to the year to come, I invite you to set aside an hour or two to check your position in the journey of your life. All you need is this brief guide, along with a journal and a pen to record your insights. Ready? Here goes...

Step 1: Review where you’ve come from.

Review the categories on the Wheel of Life graphic above. Each of these represent a major arena of life where we experience growth, failure, delight, and discomfort. Spend a few minutes focusing on each category in turn as you consider the following questions:

• As you think back over the last 12 months, where have you strengthened your footing or gained new ground?

• What new discoveries have you made?

• How have you changed as a result of these successes?

• As you look back over the past year, where have you failed to advance, or even lost ground?

• What obstacles have held you back?

• How have you explained this struggle to yourself? What have you told yourself about it?

• What’s been really really good about this past year?

• What do you wish you could change about this past year?
  

Step 2: Look at where you are.

Next, using the Wheel of Life as a reference, journal your responses to the following questions:

• Now that you’ve looked back over the year, where would you say you are now?

• As you look at where you are in life today, what are you proud of?

• What are you most disappointed about?

• Where are you hiding or pretending?

• What still needs to be healed?

• What matters most to you now? What is most essential?

• How would you describe the current condition of your heart—as it is right now?

• What’s the deep truth about your life as it is today?
  

Step 3: Refine the course ahead.

Finally, use the Wheel of Life to narrow your focus as you journal your responses to the questions below. A word of caution here: Do not try to set too many goals for the coming year! While it may feel good to do so now, it will likely set you up for failure later. Research shows that change happens much more effectively (and permanently!) in our lives when we go after only one goal at a time. So, as you look to the year ahead, I recommend choosing one area on the Wheel of Life, and one meaningful goal to go after in the coming year. That will greatly enhance your chances of success. And, if you achieve it early, you can always add another goal to go after at that time.

OK, here are the questions:

• Where do you want your life to go in the next 12 months? What would you love to see happen?

• What do you want the “theme” of your life to be in the next year?

• What struggle or obstacle would you love to finally overcome?

• What new territory needs to be explored?

• What are the things you must do in the next 12 months to move your life forward in the direction of your deepest heart desires?

• Based on what you’ve explored so far, what specific goal will you set for yourself in the next year?

• How will you ensure that you don’t lose sight of your goal, or lose your way in the coming year?

• How will you know when your goal is achieved?

• How will you celebrate when you reach your desired destination?
  

Look back. Check your bearings. Set the course ahead. It’s a simple practice, really. But sometimes it’s simple things like this that make all the difference in helping us define who are becoming and maximize the quality and impact of our lives in the world.

If you are looking for some additional support in the coming year—a trained ally to partner with you in the dreams you are pursuing and the challenges you will inevitably face along the way—let's set up a free exploratory conversation. I'd love to support you in becoming all you're meant to be.

“May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire that disturbs you when you have settled for something safe. May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease to discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.” — John O’Donohue, from “A Blessing for Longing”