Performance Reviews, are they now useless?
This year I turned 50 (thank you for all the warm congratulations!) and with the end of year fast approaching the invite to events is coming thick and fast, along with all the work that needs to be completed before the end of the year plus with booking into next year, it feels really busy. But I also think it feels like the right time to review the 50th year I’ve had on this beautiful planet of ours.
This is normal practice for most people at some point in the year usually directed from work with most professionals taking stock of what they planned to achieve and what was actually ticked off the list. Asking the question:
Are we feeling fulfilled and pleasantly happy about the past year or did things not go to plan?
Well I think that most people would answer that their year didn’t go to plan. I didn’t achieve a number of things I wanted to both professionally and personally, I didn’t get fit and lose the weight I wanted for my 50th birthday, I didn’t get to celebrate my son’s engagement (who lives in the UK) with him and his finance or do the skydive I planned with my Auntie Susan to raise money for breast cancer. Professionally I haven’t helped as many people directly that I had hoped and I haven’t finished writing my book.
However I did learn lots of new skills and achieved other things I hadn’t planned on doing. I went on a hot air balloon ride, went snorkelling in Exmouth and saw turtles. I spent more time with my youngest son and husband than I would have. I learnt how to run training workshops online, created new online courses and connected with people across the world with clients all over Australia and as far as Canada now.
So the greatest gift I’m going to give myself for Christmas is the permission to be okay with where I am, I did the best I could and have made progress and I hope you will join me in that sentiment for yourself.
This week I have delivered two workshops on Positive mindsets and changing negative self talk. I have found that we are too hard on ourselves, missing or ignoring critical positive data and focusing instead on what we did wrong or didn’t achieve. Does that sound familiar?
That’s not to say we shouldn’t be fair in our evaluations and review if things didn’t go to plan, why not, was that a choice due to changing circumstances or an excuse.
Did COVID really make me eat all the fruit crumbles that my husband suddenly started making and did it stop me from exercising or was that my choice? (yes it was my choice, but they were so hard to resist!!!) Did it really stop me from writing my book or was it a choice for me to help people through different media, like online training programs, like the one I did for ‘Find your next job through LinkedIn’ because I didn’t have the time to do both.
As C.S. Lewis said:
"You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending"
For some of us this review may result in you finding that you are on the right track, that you are loving what you do and want to continue. However there are lots of others I have spoken to, that have decided that they are not happy, they feel unfulfilled and have fallen out of love with what they are doing and I am helping them to discover the unique value they have so that they can make a positive Impact on their own and others lives.
Feel fulfilled, energised with deep meaningful connections with those around them.
Do you want to join them?
Take control so that you too are living your best life and doing your most meaningful work.
If you want to change your ending but aren’t sure where to start then I’d love to help. Give me a call on 0423 360 507.
