5 (quick and easy) steps to reflect on your half-year review

If you’ve been reading for even just a little time, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of stopping, and pausing to reflect before marching on. It’s because I was not good at this step that I feel like it’s so useful. If you’re thinking “oh, this reflection business is not for me” it’s probably then going to be a very valuable exercise, especially for you.

As we have just finished the half-year, let’s pause and reflect on the first six months of the year. Here are my 5 steps (I change these all the time and if I gave a talk, I’d probably change it again ;)) which I have positioned as questions:

1. Where do I need to give myself grace?

  • Many of us set out at the end of 2022/ beginning of 2023 with a brand new set of goals and intentions that seemed easy at the time because we were hyped up on New Year Energy. I am the same as you! I conveniently forgot that I’m not an outside person and told myself I could go outside almost daily for 23 minutes in 2023. Here’s where I let that notion go.
  • Do you need to give yourself grace and let some things go? Books, TV shows, projects (work or personal)?

2. What is working? What am I happy with?

  • This is the fun part so go wild.
  • Did you get some work projects done? Did you get personal projects done? Did you rest well? Did you watch some good TV? Is your reading in a good place? (I have watched some good TV – On the verge, The Bold Type, Working Moms, Wellmania, etc.)
  • Are you rocking your relationships? (I am rocking my in-person relationships… probably because I’m tired of online everything!)
  • Have you finally adjusted to a new work from office rhythm? (more on this in a blog post but finally, after 5 months in a 3-days-a-week schedule, I can say yes)
  • Have you finally reduced your addiction to the tiny computer in your hand?
  • Are you in a good exercise/ movement routine?

3. What do I still need to do?

  • When you review your list (or make a new list), what is still calling to you to do for this year?
  • How is your health? No joke – I have 5 health appointments to make this month and two that must happen – the pharmacist told me she is only issuing my meds as an “emergency” so I’ve got to go get a repeat script from my doctor in the next 3 weeks. Alrighty then.
  • Do you have some house projects you want to take care of?
  • Do you have some fun things you want to plan to look forward to?

4. What do I want to change?

  • When you consider the last 6 months, what are you not happy about?
  • What needs to change? Is it something you need to speak up about? Schedule the time to do so.

5. What are my in-progress projects?

  • What have you started, made some progress towards but you need to finish it off? Personal projects, work projects, finance projects (I met with my financial adviser in May and she gave me 3 actions – I have done none but I told her I would only action in July or August), health projects?
  • If you have nothing, great! I put this question because many of my projects don’t always start and finish in the same month, as neat as that would be.

If you need some inspiration and guidance to get going, I am here to give you a loving kick in the pants to get you moving again, but you have to take the first step.

Other half-year review posts on the blog

(no surprise to anyone – I didn’t do one in 2020!)

It’s half year review time!

Doing a review of the month, half year or year is a meditative practice for me because I’m so inclined to keep moving onto the next thing without stopping.

The half year, especially, is a chance for me to stop, acknowledge that I have accomplished some things and make some tweaks for the rest of the year ahead.

Let me do this with you, and then you can grab a cup of tea or coffee, and join me in your own half year review.

what went well?

  • I’ve run 4 X Four Tendencies workshops – I tweak a few things every time to make the workshop better – and I now have a kids’ quiz too. I also fully have my workshop mojo back.
  • We’ve waterproofed our roof and won’t have to think about that for 10 years. Our windows are sealed. We have blinds in our poolroom and bathrooms. We now have a slam-shut security door.
  • I’ve read over 50 books and we’ve had 6 fantastic book club discussions.
  • I’ve done some excellent work in my full-time job, had hard conversations that I needed to, and I’ve updated my CV (are you like me who keeps saying, “I really should update my CV” and then never do?).
  • Our kids have settled in nicely to grade 4. D and I are a bit more hands-on with the studying than we’d like to be as upholders, but we remain confident things will be better next time around.

what didn’t go well?

  • Too much money flowing out on all the house stuff. The money was there but too much makes me feel slightly anxious!
  • I would have liked one more family holiday but school holidays didn’t work in our favour this year.
  • I started caring too much about things outside of my control at work.

what do I need to let go of?

In an unprecedented twist (!), I am actually letting go of one of my #19in2019 goals. That’s because we did other (unplanned) house projects and so I’m letting go of one item on my list I had there instead. It’s all good because I exchanged one project for another.

what energised me?

I took a few extra dance classes when the opportunity presented itself. There’s an extra dance class on another weeknight. I can’t make it every week but when it works for all of us – kids and Dion – then I have gone, and it has been good to move more. Moving would be the fourth item on this list.

what do I need to change?

  • Be aware of upholder tightening, in particular with regards to my reading rules. If I want to read fiction during the week, especially during particularly stressful times at work when I need to escape, then I should do so.
  • Plan holidays more in advance.
  • Stop buying handbags! #sorrynotsorry

how’s my word of the year working for me?

Great. My word for the year is bold and it really has been a fabulous word for me. It is pushing me to say yes more and to step out when I feel inclined to retreat or take a back seat.

In a nutshell, my first half of the year has been a solid 8 out of 10. Much better in some areas but frustrating in others. Life, really 🙂 Much, much more good than bad.

Over to you! On a scale of 1 – 10, what is your rating for the first 6 months of the year? Care to share any of your high or lowlights?

Let me walk you through your half-year review

Well, six months of the year are nearly over and it’s time to review the year thus far.

I do a slightly longer version of my monthly review with a bit more detail to flesh things about a bit.

Will you join me?

  1. Get comfortable with your bullet journal, a beverage of your choice and a nice pen.
  2. Answer the questions honestly to gain insights.
  3. Set a few new goals for the second half of the year.
  4. Get some accountability (like-minded friend, or a coach – I would love to coach you)

 

Right, let’s get to the questions:

  1. What went well during the first half of the year? Why?
  2. What didn’t work out so well? Why?
  3. Were there any detours or obstacles? How did you navigate them?
  4. What did you learn about yourself?
  5. How are your relationships doing?
  6. What do you need to let go of? Feelings, expectations, projects, etc?
  7. If you chose a word of the year, how is your word working out for you? If it’s not working, could you change your word?
  8. On a scale of 1 – 10, how has the year been so far?

At this point, rewrite the goals you still want on a fresh piece of paper in your bullet journal. This will help you have a clean start. July is the new Jan 🙂

If you’re “over” the notion of goals, why don’t you set a few broad intentions for the year ahead, like this:

  1. For the rest of the year, I want to feel _____________ in my relationships with my family and friends (connected/ loving/ generous)
  2. I choose to let go of _________________________ (the expectation that…../ comparison/ the kids’ bathroom project)
  3. I want more _________________ in my life (joy/ love/ peace/ order/ beauty/ creativity)
  4. I want less ____________________ (chaos/ toxicity/ stress/ overwhelm/ lack)
  5. I want to give myself the gift of ___________________ (acceptance/ 15 minutes a day to read/ time to nourish my body by moving)

Has this helped?

On a scale of 1 – 10, how has your year been thus far? What are you looking forward to in the second half of the year?

When you do your half-year review, do take a quick pic and when you post your pic on Instagram, tag @OrganisingQueen

And don’t forget to contact me if you want to book a coaching session to work through this with me.

I’ve been posting my 18 in 2018 updates on Instagram. You don’t have to have a profile to view them. Just click my Instagram handle, and below my details, you’ll find circles. Look for the 18 in 2018 pink circle and see my updates there. I’m now up to over half done.

6 questions to ask as you do your half-year goals review

As many of you know, I do a monthly goals review every month before I set goals for the new month ahead.

I find that it helps me take stock of what went well and why, and what I need to work on.

We’re now half way through the year and my question to you is this – are you on track with your goals?

For now, go through these questions with me about the 6 months that have just passed, and answer them honestly.

1. When I think about the last 6 months, what do I feel? Am I excited, disappointed or apathetic about my progress?

You want to get an overall sense of the feeling of the half year. Was it too busy? Did you get big things done? Was it a period you just want to put behind you so you can move on?

2. Which areas of my life are working well, which are neutral and which are not doing so well?

This is to drill down into the areas making up each category so you can fix the not-so-good areas if there’s something you can do about them.

3. Why? Or why not?

For this one, write a little bit about the reasons you feel the way you do about each area.

4. What do I need to let go of or are there places I need to lower my expectations of myself?

These could be actual goals or projects, or unrealistic expectations.

5. What can I do differently to make sure the next 6 months move me closer to my goals?

These are the things you know are true for you.

Some of my ideas are:

  • First work on my own goals and then scroll social media.
  • Schedule important project work.
  • Don’t compare yourself to others.

And the last question…

6. How am I living out my word of the year?

If you chose a word for the year, are you living it out intentionally? Do you think about how to incorporate it in your daily life? Is it just not working for you? If yes, here’s your permission to change your word.

Over to you.

My challenge to you is to answer these 6 questions honestly to take stock so you can have a successful second half of the year.

We’re halfway through the year. Let’s take stock.

diaries and goals best

I know, right?

We all can’t believe half the year is done.

So it’s time to take stock.

Doing a review and looking back is something I am not naturally good at. I’m usually all go, go, go, move forward, but I do find that when I make the time to reflect, I appreciate the good things more and the not-so-great things get put into perspective.

Also, I find that the month/ year/ half-year (in this case) has gone better than it feels. Recency makes you remember the very last things that happened and somehow there’s always a bit too much rush to feel like things went well.

diaries and goals best-005

Why don’t you grab a nice mug of tea/ coffee, a notebook and gel pen (!) and join me as we do our half-year review.

  1. On a scale of 1 – 10, how have the first 6 months of 2016 been? Why did you choose that number?
  2. What is going well in your life? Do you know why?
  3. What could be better? Could you make those changes?
  4. If you chose a word of the year, how are you living out that word? Has it been guiding/ inspiring/ clarifying things for you, or do you maybe need to choose another word? (there’s no rule that says you have to cling to a word that is just not working for you, so if you needed permission to let it go, do so :))
  5. Looking at your goals for the year, are they on track?
  6. Are there any goals you need to let go of? Be kind to yourself and let them go.
  7. Do you know why those goals were no longer motivating you?
  8. Looking forward… what are the 3 main things you want to focus on for the next 3 – 6 months?
  9. Do you have the support you need? I have the space to take on 3 clients on a short-term basis. Please contact me if you’re interested.

diaries and goals best-012

Are there any goals you need to let go of?

(I let go of a lot of the house things once we bought the new house but I did complete about 20 of the 32 items on my house list during the first quarter of 2016 – I could tell you the exact number but my file is packed :))

Or please share any one of the questions above…

10 questions for your half-year review

I do a Goals Night on the last day of every month. It’s time to take stock of the month that’s passed, what went well, what didn’t and to set goals for the month ahead.

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When I get a little way into the year, then I occasionally take stock against my annual goals.

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Here are a few questions to ask as you take stock half way through the year:

  1. On a scale of 1 – 10, how have the first 6 months of 2015 been?
  2. What are your reasons for the number you chose?
  3. What is working well? Why?
  4. What could be working better? How?
  5. If you chose a word of the year, has it been guiding/ inspiring/ clarifying things for you? How are you living out your word of the year?
  6. Looking at your goals, are you on track?
  7. Are there any goals you need to let go of? Let them go and be kind to yourself.
  8. Do you know why those goals were no longer motivating you?
  9. Looking forward… what are the 3 main things you want to focus on for the next 90 days?
  10. Do you have the necessary support? I may be able to help you.

If you’re feeling introspective, this resource may delight you.

enough

If you ask yourself these questions and end up feeling a little blue about what hasn’t been done, stop. It’s better to have the self-knowledge and anything done is better than nothing.

Write down your top 3 things (maybe on a Project Life card?), prop it up on your desk and start again.

Care to share some of your progress with me?

You might enjoy these:

I posted 6 questions for your half-year review two years ago.

How to achieve your goals

5 questions to ask as you do your half-year review

As you know, I do a goals review every month before I set goals for the new month ahead.

I find that it helps me take stock of what went well and why, and what I need to work on.

So now that we’re 6 months into 2014, technically I should be half-through my goals.

Of course, it’s not that straightforward because there are goals that are recurring and there are once-off goals. Also, some areas of life may have been flowing beautifully but some haven’t.

My question to you is this – are you on track with your goals?

Beach

For the moment, go through these questions with me and answer them honestly. I’ll give you some of my answers as examples of a typical half-year goals review:

1. When I think about the last 6 months, what do I feel? Am I excited, disappointed or apathetic about my progress?

I’m relieved, excited and content.

2. Which areas of my life are working well, which are neutral and which are not doing so well?

Well – Family, Fun, Personal, Friendship, Business

Neutral – Work & Health/ Fitness

3. Why? Or why not?

No need to bore you here. This is where you take a few minutes and go through each category.

4. What do I need to let go of or are there places I need to lower my expectations of myself?

I need to let go of unrealistic expectations about getting to my 10 000 steps daily when I currently don’t have a very active “job”. Also, I need to relax more and appreciate this gift of time.

5. What can I do differently to make sure the next six months move me closer to my goals?

Do something every day, no matter how small, to keep moving me towards my goals.

Stop comparing myself to others!

And a bonus question…

6. How am I living out my word of the year?

It sometimes doesn’t feel like I’m shining but I’m doing a million times better than last year so in comparison, yes, I’m shining.

Over to you.

My challenge to you is to answer these 6 questions honestly and then take some consistent action to move you closer to your goals.

Resources

How to set and achieve your goals

Big, Juicy goals

Six questions for your half-yearly life review

I do a monthly goals review every month before I set goals for the new month ahead.

I find that it helps me take stock of what went well and why, and what I need to work on.

I like to think that if I’m 4 months into the year, then technically I should be a third of the way through my goals.

Well, I know it’s not that simple or straightforward but it helps to have something to aim towards.

We’re nearly half way through the year and my question to you is this – are you on track with your goals?

For me, I’ve done 14 out of 18 business goals (that darn blog makeover is driving me nuts!) and 24 out of 31 personal goals. Some of those 24 are work-in-progress, like I have a monthly goal of keeping up with the kids’ photos by posting to their blog (www.connorandkendra.com) at least 10 times, but I’ve done so every month thus far.

For now, go through these questions with me and answer them honestly. I’ll give you some examples of a typical monthly review below the questions.

The answers were true for me a year ago

Half-yearly Review

1. When I think about the last month, what do I feel? Am I excited, disappointed or apathetic about my progress?

I feel mostly excited like I’m making good progress but I still feel like I’m not moving fast enough.

2. Which areas of my life are working well, which are neutral and which are not doing so well?

Well – Family, Fun, Personal, Friendship
Neutral – Work (day job) and Business
Not so well – Health and Fitness

3. Why? Or why not?

I’m excited by our family goals – we’re ahead of where we wanted to be – but a little bit disappointed by my business goals. My income is not where I wanted it to be and my book is taking longer than I’d like to be totally done. However, I have great clients and I’ve had two media interviews over the last few months.

I’m doing really great in the personal areas – I have plenty of “me” time to create, read, play with my camera and chase the kids around the garden – and to invest in my friendships.

4. What do I need to let go of or are there places I need to lower my expectations of myself?

I need to let go of unrealistic expectations about getting my book out in print faster.

I also need to let go of focussing on the numbers so much and just focus on the joy.

5. What can I do differently to make sure the next four months move me closer to my goals?

Do something every day, no matter how small, to move me towards that book being out and successful.

Stop comparing myself to others!

And a bonus question…

6. How am I living out my word of the year?

I’m doing great on this aspect. I’m really living intentionally and creating memories, fun times, and also enjoying the process of living creatively.

Over to you.

My challenge to you is to answer these 6 questions honestly and then make some consistent changes.

PS I love that the book is done even though it was bugging me so much just over a year ago 🙂



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