Looking Back and Looking Ahead

We're ten days from the end of the year and from the end of the decade. It's hard to believe, but in less than two weeks, another ten years will be gone. I don't know about you, but it seems to me like it was a few days ago we were worrying about Y2K (remember that?) and now we're getting ready to welcome 2010. So as the year comes to a close it's time for taking stock.

Ask most people about New Year's and they'll tell you that it's a time when they set new goals and look ahead to the future. While many people never bother to set goals and make plans, almost everyone engages in the exercise of setting resolutions. While I'm all in favour of setting New Year's Resolutions, this week I want to focus on someone that is most often overlooked but potentially even more important, looking back.

Looking back isn't about regrets and dwelling on our mistakes, it's about taking stock of where we've been as a way to guide us toward where we want to be. The end of a year is a great time to take stock of what you've accomplished over the past 365 days, take a deeper look at the challenges you faced, and most importantly, the lessons you've learned. In this case, we get to look back at a whole decade, so there's lots to be gleaned if we'll just take the time to look. Here is some of my lists:

2000's Accomplishments:

• Told I was going to die, faced the challenge head on without ever giving up hope
• Survived a life-saving Heart-Lung Transplant
• Took myself from zero fitness level to a marathon finish line.
• Ran 3 marathons and 4 half marathons
• Wrote and published my book
• Re-planned my life and discovered a new career path
• Started my own business
• Spoke to 50,000 people in over 100 presentations
• Met and married my wife
• Had our first child Emma
• Bought our first, and then our second house

2000's Challenges:

• Told I may die at 23
• Lived in a hospital bed for 6 months
• Broke up with my first serious girl friend
• Dealt with depression on and off throughout
• Developed anxiety disorder
• Realized I couldn't be a teacher like I'd planned

2000's Lessons Learned:

• You never lose unless you give up
• You can beat anything with enough determination, endurance and optimism
• However bad something may be, there are always lessons to be learned from it
• What doesn't kill you really does make you stronger
• Anything can be accomplished with big vision, self-confidence and dogged determination
• As long as you have family and friends nothing else much matters

I hope you enjoyed my lists, but more importantly, I hope that they encourage you to make your own. In the next ten days, set aside a little time to take inventory of where you've been this past decade. See what you learn. It can be a very helpful tool to take you to the next level in your professional and personal life.