Dear Past, Thank You for the Lessons…

Tis the season when you hear people making the same old resolutions… “Next year I will lose ten pounds, next year I will call my mother more, next year…” This time, instead of forcing yourself to make vague resolutions for the year ahead, I have an even better mission for you…
Sit down in a quiet place and reflect upon all that you have accomplished this past year in all aspects of your life, but particularly professionally. Taking the time to pause and reflect not only on what you have accomplished but how it makes you feel, is an important exercise for growth. Stop, appreciate and really savor your accomplishments. Looking at how far you have come is often the first stride in setting goals for the future.

Here are a few questions you can pose to yourself to get the ball rolling:

• What have you accomplished this year that you are particularly proud of?
• What did you gain from those accomplishments?
• What benchmarks or goals did you meet?
• What was the most challenging part of the year for you?
• What are the three most important things you learned?
• What are six adjectives that best describe this year?

Once you have the snapshot of how the past year panned out, sit with that feeling for a while. Are you happy with your progress? Relieved? Hopeful that next year will be even better? Then get to work and use those feelings to finalize your plans for the upcoming year. Have you finished your firm’s marketing calendar? Have you reviewed your Profit and Loss Statement for the year? Have you set next year’s revenue goals? By the way, as you think about goals be sure you set them the S.M.A.R.T. way: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reasonable, & Timely. That way you won’t end up with those ambiguous one-liner resolutions for the next year.

So… what are you waiting for? The future is yours!

Katie Rios
Practice Building Consultant
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
9444 Balboa Avenue, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
Phone: (800) 846-1555
www.aaepa.com