Here we are, at the end of the year, and you’re ready to get a jump on the new year by putting together a list of goals you have for 2025, places you’d like to visit, and fitness thresholds you’d like to hit.
Not so fast there, New Year Planner.
Before you bust out the blank calendar, the new KPIs, the fresh highlighters and markers to create those ‘25 resolutions, hit pause. There’s an important exercise you want to undergo first, one that will supercharge your ideas for the coming year and will increase your wisdom for tackling the days ahead.
That exercise?
It’s the End-of-Year audit and no, it’s not about your taxes.
You may remember reading about giving yourself a health audit, which helps you determine what health and wellness organizations you want to engage, gives you a solid snapshot of your current health, and frames what areas in your health journey you’d like to take on next. An End-of-Year audit is the same kind of tool, but takes a bigger picture view of your year in review. Many goals and resolutions for the new year don’t make it past the light of February, and while there are several reasons for those statistics, an End-of-Year audit helps you then shape focuses for the new year that are informed and reachable in 2025. Too often, it’s all too easy to put all kinds of whims and trends on a new year goal sheet without reflecting on what worked in the previous year, what was missing, and what would have made the best impact on the year.
Don’t kid yourself. Be honest with yourself. Take your own inventory.
Jack Canfield
Audits are a hallmark of successful businesses. They offer a snapshot of achievements, financial health, and the strategies that drove the previous year’s work. In the same way, a personal audit gives you the same kind of overall and intentional view.
Here’s how to get started doing your own End-of-Year audit.
Write it Down: As you think through the following categories, be sure to record your thoughts. It can be on the first page of a fresh journal for 2025, in the Notes app on your phone, on Post-its you pin on your vision board, or on a simple sheet of paper. Writing things down will help jog your memory and create an archive
Celebrate the Fruit: Where can you see that you’ve grown this past year? What achievements, both the public and private, big and small, are you excited about? If you only look at upcoming goals through a lens of what you feel like you didn’t accomplish in the previous year, you could be unintentionally taking the steam out of your motivation. Even if you didn’t hit thresholds you wanted to in 2024, take a few minutes to identify and enjoy those wins.
Repurpose the Challenges: In a performance climate, it can be all too easy to see the obstacles of the previous year as failures. Instead, take inventory of what challenged you this year and look at it through a lens of what you learned, what skills you developed as a result, and how you’ll cultivate and carry those lessons forward. Jot down the top lessons learned and how that will shape your goals for the upcoming year.
Don’t Copy and Paste Your Priorities: You may have made something like ‘travel’ one of your top priorities a few years ago, and it’s been making the list ever since. If travel is still an important focus for you, great. But, spend a few minutes evaluating what your priorities truly are and if the priorities you’ve listed out through the years are still your priorities for the upcoming 365 days. Maybe you want to make financial savings a bigger goal this year. Maybe you’ve started a family and travel needs to be a lower priority item as you elevate other things like rest and family time. Truly consider each thing you call a priority and make sure it fits in your overall goals for the coming year, even if it was the right focus this previous year.
Now that you have a good overview of the previous year, the priorities that guided you, the wins and the lessons learned, start to think about the upcoming year in a series of categories and ask yourself the following questions:
- Professional Growth
– What professional goals did I achieve this year?
– How fulfilling did I find my work?
– What are areas and skills I want to grow in for 2025? - Financial Health
– What are my current balances and savings for the year?
– What wins did I have this year with my money and what challenges did I face?
– Where can I cut expenses in the upcoming year?
– What is a new goal for 2025 based on the experiences of 2024? - Relationships
– Which of my relationships thrived in 2024?
– Which relationships had more challenge or needed more attention?
– Who encourages me and helps me be my best?
– Which relationships do I need to invest in more based on what I’ve observed in 2024 and which relationships do I need a bit more space in? - Health and Wellness
– What did I like about my fitness and nutrition levels in 2024?
– What were times I felt aligned and joyful in my mental health?
– What were my best habits for my wellness, physically, spiritually, and mentally, in 2024?
– What is a habit that didn’t serve me well? (If you’re an Altrua HealthShare Member on a Gem or MyShare membership, how did you do on your Altrua HealthShare App Rewards goals?) - Personal Growth
– What books did I read and courses did I take that helped me in areas of personal growth?
– How did I do when it came to growing in confidence, peace, patience, and clarity?
– Where did I experience challenge? - Time
– Did my schedule and calendar match what I said my priorities would be for 2024?
– Do I like the mix of rest, family time, hobbies, and projects?
– Where would I have liked to spend more of my time and effort?
– What percentages of time did I spend on work, self-care, family, rest, vacation, and spiritual growth? - Environment
– What did I like about my living space this past year?
– What did I like about my work space?
– What would have made these areas feel better and more productive? - Fun and Adventure
– What new experiences in 2024 brought me joy?
– How much fun did I have this year?
– What did I learn about what I consider to be fun and the people who were part of that?
– What did I not get a chance to explore or experience this past year that I’d like to make part of the new year?
As you work through these questions, and as you add this information to the overall intake you’ve done of your year, you’ll now have a much fuller picture of what your 2024 has meant. From there, you’ll be able to decide which goals to take into 2025, and which ones can go on the cutting room floor. You’ll embrace new priorities and release ones that aren’t for this upcoming season of life.
An honest look back of your 2024, a clear audit of what you liked, what you achieved, what you would change, and what you learned, is the best way to prepare your path for 2025. A fresh start begins with a fresh view of how you’ve lived the previous 365 days. Here’s to the new year and to the 2024 version of you that got you here!
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11