As the year draws to a close, and over the Christmas break, it might be a good time to take a step back and reflect on how 2016 was for you. And for some they might be delighted to see the back of it because of a family loss, an illness, a relationship breakup, continuing financial struggles etc.
And for others 2016 might have been an excellent year, and a time to appreciate their good fortune and look forward to the New Year with enthusiasm and hope it will be as good as the last.
When I say you should reflect on what, was, good and bad about 2016, I don’t mean it should take hours to complete or be as formal as sitting down and making a big long list, but it is easy to jump quickly to 2017 and forget about what happened in 2016, and think just because a 6 becomes a 7 that all those things and habits that helped or hindered us in the past 12 months will continue or change in the year ahead.
We do need to pause, and remind ourselves and see what we can learn from this past year.
Self –reflection is a powerful process and encouraged by many of the world’s greatest minds. And for many the Christmas break is a great time to catch up on sleep and re-charge our batteries and we look forward to this rest and relaxation period by reading books, watching the television, mindlessly surfing the internet and so on. And nothing at all wrong with doing any or all of these things either, but amongst them, how about taking 30 minutes out to sit in a room with the TV off, and think about the year that just past and think about the year ahead, and what we really want to spend our time doing and with whom.
I started to do this myself in the past week, and I deliberately wanted to start with the good things that happened in 2016 because it’s easy to forget about them, and only focus on the areas that challenged us. But when we remember the good times, we might end up with a different perspective on how our year actually was.
And it is important you try and capture all those good moments because I remember reading somewhere before that our brains are actually wired towards a negative bias which means we tend to focus and remember the negative things that happened to us and forget the positive stuff. So, from a balanced perspective it is important we intentionally capture the good and the bad.
When you begin to make your list, rather than focusing in on one element of it, it’s important to reflect on all areas of your life from your health, finances, relationships, career, travel, and so on.
And what I did, was look back at every month over the past year, and tried to remember what the one standout moment in each was for me, and write them down, and when I did they looked something like this:
January: I got my annual medical exam carried out and everything is good, all results come back with clean bill of health. I am very grateful I am healthy and will never take it for granted.
February: A very sad month because my Uncle in Law Brendan passes away. A great person who was taken much too early from us. I guess it’s a reminder that life is short, and to live every day as if it was your last.
March: Harmonics Financial win the Judges Special Award for Innovation at the LPI Awards – a very proud moment.
April: My daughter Sarah celebrates her holy communion. The weather is great, and everyone is back at our house afterwards having a lovely time. She looks beautiful.
May: My daughter Emily celebrates her confirmation. We get Sumo wrestling suits and a draw takes place matching relatives against one another – great fun, and we just laughed all day.
June: I remember this month being stressful because my daughter Rachel sits her Junior Certificate. We are all anxious for her and everyone else we know sitting exams.
July: I am asked to make a presentation for a company about money management and how best to make use of your money each month. Around 150 people attend and I remember afterwards thinking, yeah that was a really good presentation.
August: I receive a message from a person via Linkedin who read my last book and she said that she followed my suggestions and since then they have never looked back. They have paid €100k off their mortgage in three years and will pay it off in full in eight. She said my advice changed their lives and helped them regain a sense of their values and the ones they want to live by. I can’t stop smiling or reading the message – someone is taking notice after all!
September: I meet a young Mother of two whose husband died earlier in the year. He left no provisions for her and they are struggling very badly financially. The situation she finds herself in is very upsetting and I vow to help her in every way I can. It makes me think of my own family and I make sure I double check every life policy, every pension policy I have to make sure that if anything was to happen to me, they wouldn’t end up like this women.
October: I receive an email from a client of mine telling me that after two years of fighting with her to get her tracker back, she received a letter from her lender confirming they would, and agree to refund her what they had overcharged her as well.
November: Harmonics Financial win best national financial services company in the eCommerce awards sponsored by Realex.
December: Yet to be completed……………….
Your list doesn’t have to be anything like this, maybe you can begin yours by asking yourself;
What did I learn this year? What would I have done any differently? What did I do right? What were the fun things I did? What was my biggest challenge?
And finally think about what and who will inspire you in the year ahead, and what you can do to inspire others? Inspiration comes in many forms and for me I get some of my inspiration from watching one Ted Talk first thing every morning. I find it’s a great way to start my day by watching people talk about their passions, their ideas, what they want to aspire to become and how they want to make an impact on the world. It motivates me and one day I hope people will be watching me giving my Ted Talk.
And finally finally, think about the year ahead and pretend you are on Blankty Blank (for those who can remember this programme) and complete this sentence:
“In 2017 I will _________________________________”
This is our last article for 2016 and we will be back in early January with more, so from everyone on the My|Money team, we hope you all have a lovely Xmas and we wish you the very best for 2017.