How to Do a 2020 Year-End Review
This year was a hard year.
Yeah. I probably don’t have to tell you that.
Astrologers knew this & they totally warmed us, but who had the guts to call a pandemic??
So, first of all... if you survived, count 2020 as a win.
But now that the year is winding down, it’s time to look back and see what we can learn from the 2020. Because even if you experienced setbacks due to the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic… or you spent most of the year depressed, unable to take any real action because you were dealing with mental health stuff brought on by the craziness…
So many peoples worlds crumbled to the ground.
But not everyone.
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If you were apart of the “this is an opportunity” boat, then 2020 was probably a good year for you. I know it was for me. Ive been expecting fucking collapse since 2012. (Hence becoming self employed before it was cool versus getting a cushy job with benefits).
I have seen so many businesses THRIVE this year. And a key part of it was not falling victim to external affairs. To the news. To other people’s stories. To other people settling.
There’s still a lot you can learn from 2020.
Before we dive in I need to mention that… the year isn’t over. For those that are listening in real time… You can still hit your 2020 goals. You have a few days. And it is a great practice to look at what is going on in your head if you’re already writing off 2020 as over when you still have a week left!
Just had to throw that in there in case you needed to hear it ;)
So.
How should you be evaluating and reviewing your year?
Let’s start with why.
Reviewing and evaluating is a much overlooked key to success. It’s one of the “waning” phase actions of the moon cycle & our business cycles. Not as sexy as setting goals, which is why so many business owners overlook them. It’s so much easier to focus on big sparkly future plans than to analyze something that’s already over.
But. This one action can quantum leap your success path.
Instead of driving forward without learning our lessons, we should be taking stock from what’s already happened & learning so we can be wiser for all of our experiences.
How do we look back at our goals?
First, take out the notebook where you originally wrote down all your goals for 2020. Or all the goals you had as the year evolved. Hopefully you wrote that all down somewhere, because writing them down is a magical practice in and of itself.
But this can even be your vision board. It can be a Pinterest board where you pin your ideal future. Or a file on your computer where you took notes on what you want.
Whatever it is, look it over. And then begin to lump your goals into categories.
For example - maybe your goal was buying your dream car. Or making 7 figures. Those are your financial goals.
Or maybe you had wanted to be featured in Forbes. Or reach 10,000 new clients. Those are your career goals.
Maybe you wanted a baby or a new house. Those are your family goals.
And on and on. I like to start with these 7 categories (because 7 is such a magical number!):
work
money
love
family
spirituality
fun
health
But your categories can be whatever you want them to be. Whatever matters to you.
But I do find people tend to focus heavily on 1-3 areas & set goals in those areas, and neglect the others. If you can choose 7 different categories that cover all of your life, you’re less likely to neglect.
So now let’s look at the categories one by one.
If you had actual measurable goals -- and I hope you did, because in my experience the best way to get what you want is to get super clear on it and concrete enough to have actual numbers associated with it.
If you had measurable goals, what numbers did you hit?
Why do you think you hit or surpassed the goals you did?
Why do you think you didn’t hit (or totally forgot about) ones you didn’t hit? Did your priorities change? Or did your focus?
How can you prevent that going forward?
Did certain goals not matter to you? Not enough accountability? Not a priority?
Or maybe you were afraid.
If you were afraid... what were you afraid of?
For me, I’ve had clients who set their goals so high that it made them freeze. They hadn’t done the integration work needed to welcome that huge influx of clients and cash into their life. So instead of hustling toward that major goal, they get overwhelmed and don’t make any progress on it.
If that was you, maybe it’s time to think about what mindset work you need to do to allow yourself to hit your goals.
Procrastinating can often mean I have shadow work I need to do. Usually I don’t even consciously know what it is, until I sit down and meditate on it and journal about it. But unconsciously, something is happening where part of me doesn’t want to make progress on the thing -- whatever it is.
So, that means I really have to sit down and get clear on why I’m partly resistant. Because if I don’t, the resistance is just going to keep coming up and I’m never going to make progress.
On the other side of it -- maybe you overcommitted. You didn’t give yourself the rest and spaciousness you needed. If that’s a pattern for you you may want to think about why you don’t think you deserve rest or to take time off.
So if you find yourself procrastinating or making excuses, ask yourself… Why are you resisting making your goal a reality?
What are you afraid will happen if you don’t hit your goals?
Failure is terrifying. Especially if part of you already believes you don’t deserve it. If you already have to fight the messages from your brain (and maybe the world) saying that you can never amount to anything. You can never make a business that supports you, or one that breaks past a certain dollar amount. You can never be a successful entrepreneur.
SO many of us have this voice in my head saying not to get too comfortable. That my business success is temporary and it can come crumbling down any second.
This is when it’s less about business strategy & more about your own brain. It’s about integrating your desires so that everything is aligned.
Because if you don’t, that little fear voice gets louder and louder until it ends up running the show.
Or... what terrible or annoying things would happen if you DID hit the goal that your brain is being a genius by avoiding?
Seriously. Sometimes our brains hold us back because they’re lazy. They don’t like change, because change means there are new things to learn and, obviously, with that comes new opportunities to fail.
Maybe you think that many clients would be overwhelming or you don’t want to have to respond to dumb questions that people will email in if you have a certain sized audience. Maybe you’re afraid you’d be irresponsible or no longer feel connected to your friends and family.
These are just some questions to get you thinking about what really happened. Because often times we look at our goals, and not reaching them, and we say something like, “well, I could never have done that anyway.” Or “I didn’t even really want that.”
When the truth is, you COULD do it, and you DO want it. But there’s a lot more going on underneath the surface.
Eeking out the real story, and not just re-hashing the most familiar narrative to you, is going to help you way more than anything else you can do to ge to the heart of what your motivations were in 2020.
And another key question is:
How did you want to feel in 2020?
Maybe you never got to that feeling because you didn’t hit your goals. Or you did hit your goals, but there was something missing for you. Like maybe you thought you still could've done better. Or you realized, once you got to the destination, that it wasn’t worth giving up time with your family to get there.
Next is to sit down and really examine your financial goals.
Review your financial statements from each month, your income and expenses.
This can be triggering if you don’t already have a practice of communing with your finances (and if you don’t, maybe 2021 is the year to make that your next goal!). Definitely make this a pleasurable process. Put on some music, grab your favorite beverage, and find a relaxing comfy place where you can go through everything.
Knowing your monthly finances can have a huge impact on the way you think about your goals and it can also help you get super clear on your goals for the year ahead.
Numbers don’t lie.
And then… Celebrate!!
So many of us are hard on ourselves. But it’s really the consistent celebration that builds the neural pathway that it’s fun and rewarding to do hard things.
So, no matter what goals you hit or didn’t hit or didn’t even realize you should be working toward… Even if your priorities have changed…
Celebrate where you were and where you are now. And celebrate the journey that brought you there.
And yes - celebrate the “failures.” What’d you learn? What won’t you do again? What do you have clarity on?
Write down all the lessons you’ve learned. To remind yourself that even the failures were hugely important to your journey.
And you can do this on a yearly basis, but I also recommend going month to month, because we tend to only remember the most recent things that have happened in our lives. And we end up passing over so many small victories when we just look at the large scale.
So ask yourself, every month…
What were the best things that happened?
What were the worst things that happened?
Who were the best people in your life? On your team?
And then… was there anyone who needs to be booted from your life? People who weighed you down and kept you small?
Finally… settle on a word.
2020 was your year of… what?
Maybe it was your year of growth. Your year of expansion. Your year of trial by fire!
Create an epic hero’s saga for 2020. Re-write it in your best possible light. Write a story that tells you how 2020 & everything that happened in it totally sets you up for utter success in 2021. How it was a necessary step on the road to your next-level, and a hugely important part of hitting your next goal & building your dream business and life.
And then… Decide that this interpretation is the truth.
This is obviously a huge project that I’m assigning you!
I mean, these questions are major. You can’t figure all of this out in five minutes.
Which is why so many people just… never do it.
They never look over their successes or their failures. They just stay laser-focused ahead.
And then, year after year, without even realizing it, they make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
So. Is it worth it to sit with these questions if it means you can be saving yourself years of trial and error?
I think it is.
And in case you missed it… I’m hosting a 5-day business alchemy experience from December 28 - Jan 1, to help you plan your business goals for 2021. So you can get the clarity & confidence you need to make 2021 your best year yet.
And we’re doing everything trom goal-setting strategies to rituals and even getting some expert astrologer advice, so I promise, you don’t want to miss this.
You can head to thedirtyalchemy.com/2021 and sign up for free right now.
And then don’t forget to post the image you get in your welcome email, because I’m so excited for this raffle! We’re raffling off a chance to win a free webpage review from me and my expert marketing team, so you can have us look at your sales page, your homepage, your contact page -- whatever you want, and we’ll let you know what we think of it.
So go to thedirtyalchemy.com/2021 and sign up right now.
Can’t wait to see you there!
