Assessing work goals to achieve more in 2024 as a year-end reflection
With 2024 around the corner, you probably have a list of resolutions that you are certainly, without-a-doubt, I’m-serious-this-time accomplishing in the new year. Along with cutting back on screentime and hitting the gym, there’s no better time to add a few professional to-dos to the list.
After a year-end wrap-up of sales targets and budgetary reviews, the last thing on your mind is looking over your 2023 professional accomplishments, especially when you’re well on your way to the Christmas dinner. However, it’s crucial to take a moment to reflect on the past 12 months to better set realistic, achievable goals when you return from your holiday break.
Your Year-End Reflection: Assessing Your Work Goals to Achieve More in 2024
In this blog, we’ll guide you on how to accurately, effectively, and easily assess your work achievements this past year, setting you up for success when you come back to the office. Let’s make 2024 your best year yet!
Reflecting on Time Management
Were you constantly rushing towards that last deadline in 2023? Did you feel like your hours at the office were too few, resulting in more than your fair share of late nights trying to clear the inbox? Time management is a critical skill when it comes to the workplace. Make 2024 the year you get it all done (while maintaining your sanity) by reflecting on how and when you worked over the past 12 months.
Evaluate Your Priorities: Start by revisiting the goals and tasks you set at the beginning of the year (and if you haven’t made this mission critical list, don’t worry, we’ll get back to it!) Assess whether your priorities shifted throughout the months. Ever-changing business needs are part of the norm, but did “urgent” tasks get prioritized over important ones? Understanding which activities take up the most of your time will provide insights into your workflow efficiency.
Identify Time Wasters: Now that you know how you spent your time in 2023, you need to trim out the activities that consumed your workday but didn’t contribute to your goals. Maybe there were one too many weekly meetings that could have easily been an email. We’re all prone to distractions, but did you spend more time catching up in the canteen than catching up on your calendar? Pinpointing time wasters and eliminating them will free up more time to get important tasks done in the new year.
Utilise Productivity Tools: There are endless tools and programmes available to streamline your workflow. Time-tracking and task management software can help the whole team stay on-task. A simple solution? Set email and calendar reminders for important meetings and deadlines, allowing you to allocate more time to high-impact items.
Cultivating Work-Life Balance
We’ve all been there: 10 pm and the phone starts to buzz. Even though we know we shouldn’t, it’s hard to resist a “quick check” of your email here and there, and what’s one more early morning or skipped lunch hour? If you spent more time on the “work” end of work-life last year, it’s time to evaluate how you can better balance your days to bring you more peace and productivity in 2024!
Assess Your Workload: Reflect on how much time you spent in the office (or working from home) versus your hours off. Did your work demands spill over into your personal time? Striking a healthy work-life balance is crucial not only for your well-being and relationships, but also for sustained productivity. If you find yourself with a 9 to 5 that looks a little more like 5 to 9, it’s a sign your workload may be too heavy.
Establish Boundaries: It’s not easy to say “no” to a new project, especially one you’re excited about that aligns with your professional goals. However, it’s important to define clear boundaries between work and personal time. Sometimes these boundaries need to be communicated to colleagues and family, and others, it’s a boundary you need to set for (and stick to!) yourself. Communicate and commit to a working environment that respects your need for personal time and relaxation.
Prioritise Self-Care: Your well-being is the cornerstone of a productive, enjoyable day. Work-life balance isn’t about choosing one or the other; it’s about curating a routine that recognises the importance of both. Think back on the year and try to pick out two-or-three moments when you really looked after yourself. Was it a regular period of gym-going? Booking a monthly massage? Simply not hitting snooze to enjoy some early morning reading? Evaluate how well you prioritised self-care throughout the year and commit to bringing more of those moments with you into 2024.
Setting Long-Term, Achievable Career Goals
After a season of celebrating, you’ll be feeling motivated to achieve the very best for your body, mind, and spirit in the coming months. Getting clear about your career goals and professional development at this time will set you up for sustained success – this year and beyond.
Review Your Achievements: As important as it is to fix bad working habits, it’s equally (if not more so!) important to celebrate your professional wins. Reflect on the past year, but go beyond the quantitative metrics of sales and budgets. Did you acquire new skills? Help mentor a new employee? Grow your networking through meaningful relationship building? Acknowledge the milestones that may not be KPI-measurable but are nonetheless integral to your professional development (and don’t forget to raise a toast to these over the holiday break!).
Clarify Your Long-Term Vision: The days are busy, and between constant meetings, emails, and projects, it can be easy to forget the big picture. Take a step back to reflect on your long-term career goals. How well did your accomplishments contribute to your personal vision of success? For example, if you want to start your own business one day, did you have an opportunity to practice leadership and management? Are there new skills you could be developing through professional seminars or online courses? Use this reflection to recalibrate your short-term goals so they better align with your ultimate targets.
Set (Realistic) KPIs for 2024: There’s nothing worse than setting an unrealistic goal…and not reaching it. It’s important to aim high when thinking about your upcoming year, but sustained performance is dependent on reaching achievable milestones. You don’t want to get discouraged and burnt-out. If the Big Promotion isn’t quite in sight yet, aim for a leadership role on a committee or major project. Likewise, perhaps 2024 is the year for a good professional development course rather than an MBA. Set goals (and we mean actually write them down so you can return to this list next year!) that resonate with your professional aspirations, and you watch yourself grow step-by-step.
Your year-end reflection is more than an opportunity to really enjoy the office Christmas drinks; it’s a time to refine your approach to your professional development, set meaningful goals and cultivate a fulfilling work-life. By focusing on time management, work-life balance, and aligning your goals with your long-term vision of success, you lay the foundation for 2024 to be your best, most productive and enjoyable year yet!
Embrace the lessons of the past year, celebrate your achievements, and step into the new year ready to accomplish more than ever before. Bring on 2024!
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