Theo Pauline Nestor<\/a>, where she describes how she\u00a0completes an annual review to get a better idea of how she\u2019s spent her time over the course of the year and how much she has (or hasn\u2019t) accomplished. \u00a0Yesterday morning, I decided to give it a try\u2026<\/p>\n\u2026and it changed my ENTIRE PERSPECTIVE on 2011.\u00a0 I know, I know\u2026sounds like an exaggeration. I promise, it\u2019s not.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n
Steve and I have had a\u2026well,\u00a0adventurous<\/em> year.\u00a0 The highs were fun and breathtaking, but a couple of lows really knocked it out of us, leaving us a bit banged up.<\/p>\nLike most people, what I tend to remember most are not the wins, but the crashes: the days spent picking dirt out of our teeth and checking for broken bones.\u00a0 And as far as my writing goes (which is, technically at least, my job) my tendency is to sum it up in a quick sentence: I did not sell a new project to a publisher, therefore the year was a failure.<\/em><\/p>\nSounds stark, right?\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone in jumping to the the single-sentence, lowest possible basic summary approach when evaluating. This is why Theo\u2019s annual review questions were so helpful.\u00a0 As I did them, I was forced to look at a full year of incredibly hard, good, valuable work.\u00a0 I made huge strides in my career this year, along with tons of fun and unexpected professional connections.\u00a0 Yes, we started a non-profit that got shot out of the air like a duck in hunting season, but I also started a teaching\/consulting business that has taken off, opened surprising new doors I didn\u2019t anticipate, and inspired me to write. And I\u2019ve laid the foundation for some exciting projects for 2012.\u00a0 SUCH a helpful shift in perspective! The review took me about an hour, but it was worth it\u2026 I\u2019ve felt encouraged ever since.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019d recommend this idea for ANYONE who has a job where time is fluid (writers, moms, my home schooling friends, entrepreneurs, students, 9-to-5-ers working toward a goal outside your job) It\u2019s easy to lose track of where your days go, and let the negatives captivate your memory.\u00a0 This gives you a way to push back, see how much you\u2019ve accomplished, and set real goals for the months to come.<\/p>\n
Want to try?\u00a0 I\u2019ve suggested some review questions in the post below.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was intrigued by this\u00a0post by fellow memorist\u00a0Theo Pauline Nestor, where she describes how she\u00a0completes an annual review to get a better idea of how she\u2019s spent her time over the course of the year and how much she has (or hasn\u2019t) accomplished. \u00a0Yesterday morning, I decided to give it a try\u2026 \u2026and it changed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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