Reflect, Refocus, Reimagine: Launching 2025 with Clarity and Intention

I believe in the “power of the pause”. We move so fast and do so much in our lives, that it can be tempting to just keep going, checking more and more off the list. But when we don’t take time to reflect and harvest our successes, mistakes, and lessons, we leave valuable clarity and resources on the table, and drag unnecessary blockers along with us.

Celebrating your successes, acknowledging your growth, and letting go of any residual disappointment or regret from the past year lets you start with a clean slate - amplifying what you want to build upon, and leaving the rest.

Put simply, what we appreciate appreciates. And intention is a powerful force.

For years I’ve been practising this end of year reflection and intention-setting exercise (if you’ve worked with me as a client, you know what I’m talking about!). This year I wanted to share it with you as you get ready to complete your year, so you have a guide in your pocket when you find yourself with a little time and space to reflect.

Let’s go…

Completing 2024, Creating 2025

Set the scene:

• Carve out some quiet time and space to do this exercise (minimum 15 mins) - either by yourself or with a friend

• Grab a journal / blank paper and a pen or colored markers

• Switch off your phone and silence everything that dings, chimes, tweets or otherwise tries to get your attention

• Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths… allow yourself to drift back to the beginning of 2024 and scan through the year you have just completed. Take a compassionate, objective, bird’s eye view perspective if you can - as if you are seeing yourself through the eyes of a trusted and caring friend.

  
  

A. Successes

1. List out your successes - personal and professional**

2. What are you proud of?

   
   

**A success may be:

• Tangible (a promotion, a new job, project successfully completed)

• Intangible (acknowledgement from a colleague, quality time with your kid or partner, how you showed up for a loved one, a challenge you overcame, a new habit or breaking an old one, etc)

• Related to your work, health, family, community, and/or personal growth.

  
  

B. Learning and Growth

1. What did you learn? (this could be a new skill, or a lesson learned through a mistake - something you’d do differently next time).

2. How did you grow? What do you know now that you didn’t know a year ago?

3. What was challenging? How did you overcome or navigate those challenges?

4. When did you feel most in alignment with your values?

5. How did you stretch out of your comfort zone?

6. Where did you hold yourself back?

7. What energized you the most? What drained you?

   
   

C. Relationships

1. What relationships did you cultivate or deepen?

2. Who had the biggest impact on you?

3. Who showed up for you?

4. Who did you show up for?

5. Who are you grateful for and why?

   
   

D. Incompletes or Disappointments

1. What was hard or disappointing? What didn’t turn out as you’d hoped?

2. What can you learn from this?

3. What if this happened for you and not to you? What is the gift?

4. Is there any action to take to “complete” this for yourself so you can begin the next year with a clean slate? (Ex: a conversation, an apology, forgiving yourself or another person)? If not, decide to let it go so you’re not dragging it unconsciously into your new year. What would you tell your best friend if they were still hanging onto something from the past? It may sound cheesy but writing it on a piece of paper and burning it or sending it out to sea can be a great way to release unhelpful ruminations.

   
   

E. Looking forward

1. As you move forward into 2025, what do you want more of?

2. What qualities do you want to bring in more (eg fun, balance, love, vitality)?

3. What do you want less of?

4. What can you let go of?

5. Who do you want to spend more time with?

6. What does success look like for you this year?

   
   

F. Pick your theme for 2025!

• Every year I choose a theme for the 12 months ahead as a precursor to goal-setting… a word or two that represents what I want to cultivate over the coming year. It helps to inform and focus my goals, choices, and actions - like a North Star. Each year, when I look back and reflect, I see how my theme has played out in ways I didn’t even notice at the time.

• Your theme can span both personal and professional aspirations. It can be serious or funny - it really doesn’t matter, as long as it means something to you - and brings you closer to the qualities you want to embody. Examples include: “Grounded Expansion”, “Being a badass”, “Authenticity”, “Radical Self Care”, “Collaboration”, “Leadership”, “Scaling my impact”, “Smarter not harder”, “Playfulness”, etc…

• Complete this sentence: “2025 is my year of……”

G. Celebrate and share

And that’s a wrap!

Don’t forget to celebrate your successes, acknowledge what was hard, and what it took to get through, as well as lessons learned. I guarantee this will ease you into 2025 with more energy, focus and clarity.

BONUS: Share your key insights, wins and appreciations with a few people in your life. You can even do this activity with a group of friends - silently answer the questions then share your reflections with each other. Or send a quick note to someone who made it onto your “People you appreciate” list - thanking them for their impact.

May 2025 be your best year yet!

Christina