For many of us, we do a great job of goal setting at the beginning of the year, and even evaluating what went well and what didn’t at the end of the year. But what about the months in between? Have you done a mid-year review or check in to see if you’re on track to accomplish your goals? No? Well, that’s what I want to take a moment to help you do now. Why Do a Mid-Year Check-In
First, let me say that it’s normal for us to get off track with our goals. That doesn’t necessarily make us lazy or undisciplined. Sometimes life happens and other things take priority. Sometimes we find that we didn’t set the most realistic goals in the first place – or we did, but we didn’t fully understand what was needed to make them happen. That’s precisely why we need to do regular check ins. Nothing too intense or time consuming. You don’t have to spend a whole day at your desk (or kitchen table), with flip charts and markers and calendars. Unless you geek out on that kind of thing. Conducting Your Own Check-In Doing your own mid-year evaluation can be as simple as pausing to ask yourself:
What goals have I met?
What has meeting that goal done for me?
What possibilities has it opened up? How did achieving that goal make me feel?
What's next? What goal is next or what's my next move?
What goals am I behind on?
Why am I behind?
What’s needed to get back on track?
Do you have some goals that you’ve gone from “yay!” to “meh” about? That happens, too. Maybe you had a goal of finding a new job, only to get new responsibilities and opportunities that made you love your current job again. Or it could be that now you’re enjoying dating so much that your goal of finding a “serious” relationship feels like more pressure than you want. Really try to home in on what goals just don’t apply anymore and give yourself permission to walk away from them…if only for a time. And that’s it. Really. Your mid-year check in can be more intensive than that, but it doesn’t need to be. What matters most is that you make a concerted effort to re-focus on your goals and what you'd like to accomplish this year.