It has been an unusual year with many unforeseen challenges to mitigate. People are tired, stressed and more than ever in need of a break. And with the end of the year, comes a time to rejuvenate. The holiday season is perfect for reassessing and re-evaluating what we’re doing and pressing the reset button for the coming year.
Reflecting on the year, there have been several life lessons to come out of the lockdowns and having to deal with the uncertainty around us. People have chosen to re-train for new careers, they have enjoyed the flexibility of working from home, and enjoyed spending more time with family and friends.
We have all learnt to be more grateful for what we have. The beginning of the year is a great time to reflect on the past. But it’s also an excellent time to think about what you’d like to achieve in the coming 12 months.
Let’s call it your own Personal Annual Review. Here’s an outline of a few key points that could form part of this personal review:
1. Make a list of things you are grateful for
Be sure to include the things you appreciate and want to give thanks for. This can include friends and family, partner, work, colleagues, health, home, your motivation and success – the list goes on.
For our business we have so much to be grateful for, having supportive clients and candidates within our community is one. It is something that we never forget, because great vision without great people is irrelevant.
2. Create a list of your successes
Thinking back through the year that has been, note down successes and achievements. It’s always good to look back and evaluate how you started the year and see how far you have come. Successes can be small or large – they are all relevant.
For us, recruitment can bring highs and lows. It can be easy to feel uninspired when things do not go to plan, but it is important to remember the little successes along with the big, such as putting a smile on a candidate’s face when you’ve helped them to secure their new dream job.
3. Develop a plan
This may or may not be something you already have, and let’s face it, life does not always go to plan – especially this year. There are always going to be bumps in the road, but having a plan is always a good start.
What do you want to achieve within the different facets of your life? e.g. regarding family, friends, health, financial, spirituality, community, career, hobbies, etc.
We always encourage our candidates to think about what they want their career to look like five-to-10 years down the track. What are the key incremental steps that need to be taken to achieve that goal. Each step of the way, it’s helpful to evaluate and review – is this helping me to reach my goal?
4. Establish your goals
For each life area, create a specific goal in the form of a desire that will contribute to achieving your ultimate satisfaction level – e.g. I want to be mortgage-free by December 2022.
Make your goal specific. If you want to attain new levels in your life, you need to extend yourself in some way – whether it’s learning a new skill, re-training for a new career, or working smarter.
At Talent ID, one of our goals is that whenever we spend time with a candidate or client, we like to give them a positive takeaway from meeting with us. Every candidate is an individual and has something of value to offer in terms of their skills.
