At year-end, it’s fun and helpful to look back on the previous year – fun because you usually accomplish a lot more than the busyness of the year allows you to celebrate; and helpful because you can build on your recent success. For example, for this column, I have written 59 posts to date, and the top 5 accounted for 42% of my total hits. The first place blog, Ten People You Need To Have In Your Professional Network, accounted for 18% all on its own!
How was your year? Are there any insights that can be helpful for next year? Here are five career reflections to help you end this year strong and get a running start on next year:
Are you keeping track of your results
Writing is an activity I prioritize so it makes sense that I track my progress there – e.g., number of posts, traffic per post. In what areas are you keeping track? Revenue generated, costs saved, and time saved are all obvious business metrics to track. If you’re in transition, you might want to review your networking results – number of meetings, outcomes generated. If you’re aiming for a promotion, you might want to look at people and projects outside of your immediate area to estimate your impact across the company.
Are you spending time on what works
My lopsided writing results –fewer than 10% of posts accounting for 42% of traffic – is a more extreme version but still mimics the 80/20 rulethat 80% of results stem from 20% of the causes. Do you know what that critical 20% is for your career results? If you’re aiming for a promotion, do you know the key clients that account for the bulk of your sales or the key projects that create the most impact? Based on your results from last year, think about how to steer your efforts in the coming year to emphasize the most influential factors in your performance.
Read three more reflections in my Leadership column on Forbes.com:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecenizalevine/2017/12/24/five-career-reflections-to-end-this-year-strong-and-get-a-running-start-on-next-year/#526a465752cd
Caroline Ceniza-Levine is a career and business coach with SixFigureStart®. Her latest book is Jump Ship: 10 Steps To Starting A New Career (Forbes Media, 2015).
