All the world’s most productive and successful people conduct reviews. It is an essential activity for any highly performing person or team. Without conducting reviews, you are destined to repeat mistakes and fail to reach your potential. 

I recently read an article by a colleague of mine, Paul Mead, about his review of 2016 and what his focus for 2017 is (you can read his article here). He gained incredible insight to his failures and successes. I understand the importance of reviewing and evaluating your year, having done it for the previous two years. Normally I would do it in December but this year, due ultimately to a lack of discipline, I did it in mid January. 

Reading Paul’s article inspired me to get it done. And I’m very pleased that I did. I used my own strategies this year to review and evaluate 2016 in order to learn from my experiences and discover what needed to change for 2017. In some cases, I’ve known these things about myself but never realised just how pervasive they were. If it hadn’t been for this review, these habits would certainly have continued. 

My Top 3 Weaknesses in 2016

• Inefficient with my schedule. I’m great with scheduling out my week and I’m quite productive, but I found that I over scheduled many times in 2016. I scheduled too much into my day and underestimated how much time I needed for a task. 
  

• Spent too much money. I spent too much money on many things from Facebook advertising to dining out. I was very good at saving money but not maintaining it. Once I established a bit of a disposable income I started spending too much, particularly on eating out. 

• Lack of networking. I didn’t attend any workshops or seminars in 2016. I talk often about how influential attending that workshop in Laguna was during 2015. I felt the intellectual and motivational impact of not doing that in 2016.

My Top 3 Successes in 2016

• Open to opportunities. The more I put myself out there, the more opportunities that arose. For example, one thing led to another to be asked by Jacko to join him on his radio program, Balls ’n’ All, which became a regular occurrence. From that I was asked to lecture at Charles Darwin University and give the keynote address at the Skycity whole-of-staff awards night in February. 

• Took holidays. Having not taken a family holiday since 2011, this year we travelled overseas twice. The impact this had on our family, health, motivation and productivity was phenomenal. 

• Established a refined direction online. By simply asking how I can better serve you, I refined my direction online. The overwhelming challenge you (the people who subscribe to my emails) said you have with your health and fitness, is staying on track. When asked what would need to happen in 3 months to feel like you’ve been successful with this, the vast majority of you replied, Lose 10kgs (25lbs).

The Top 3 Things I Learned from 2016 (and need to work on)

• Discipline. Probably the most surprising and valuable realisation was that I’m very good at starting things but not so good at finishing them. I’m great at creating but not maintaining. This theme stretched across several areas of my life. 

• Time. How I spend my time was a surprising theme that arose, particularly with my fiancé, Holly. I’m probably a slow learner in this regard but I learned that the more often we made exclusive time for one another, the better life become. 

• Life Balance. Since overhauling my life back in 2014, I’ve felt like I’ve had an increasingly better balance across all that I consider important in my life. My responses suggest that this continues to be of high priority. I’ve come a long way but it’s important I continue to pay close attention to maintaining my life balance.

2017 — My Year for Discipline

• With maintaining my savings. 

• With maintaining an exercise regime. 

• With taking holidays.

• With maintaining my schedule. 

• To spend time on significant tasks and outsource less significant tasks.

• To finish things (Ie. projects).

• To do less and do it better.

• To say no. 

• To create a 5-year plan. 

• To spend time with the kids on structured activities and things they like to do. 

• To spend one-on-one time with Holly. 

My 2017 Motto

“Discipline with Maintenance” 

My 2017 Quote

“Push Past the Pain Period” ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger 

Now it’s your turn. Share your goals and what 2017 means for you in the comments sections below. 

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