Before you plan next year, do this one thing
What if the key to your best year yet is already behind you?
Before you rush into planning your goals, resolutions, or “big year ahead,” I want to suggest something counterintuitive: stop.
Not to hustle harder or strategise better—but to pause. Purely for the sake of it.
Because here’s the thing: Before you plan for what’s next, you need to take a moment to look back.
This time of year can feel like a race to the finish line, but when we stop to reflect, something powerful happens. We see the progress we’ve made, the lessons we’ve learned, and the ways we’ve grown—things we might have completely missed in the busyness of everyday life.
I’ll admit, reflection hasn’t always come easily to me. It’s tempting to measure the year by numbers: revenue earned, projects delivered, newsletters sent. But when I actually pause, it’s the moments in between that mean the most. The hard decisions. The unexpected wins. The quiet realisations that changed how I work, create, and live.
This year taught me a few things:
Progress isn’t always linear. Sometimes it’s messy, slow, or invisible—until you look back and see how far you’ve come.
Rest is underrated. Some of my best ideas and most fulfilling work happened after I gave myself permission to step away.
Self-doubt is a clue, not a stop sign. Every time I’ve doubted myself this year, it’s been a sign I’m stretching into something new.
We live in a world that loves forward momentum. But reflection teaches us that looking back is just as important. It’s how we notice the lessons we’ve learned, how we make peace with mistakes, and how we give ourselves credit for the things we might otherwise take for granted.
Crucially, it also helps us to see the best pathway forward — rather than circling last year’s lessons we didn’t take a moment to learn.
So, before you dive into plans for 2025, I invite you to pause. Not to make a perfect list of lessons or accomplishments, but simply to notice.
Here are three questions I’ve been sitting with:
What am I proud of, beyond the obvious?
What surprised me about this year?
What’s one lesson I’m carrying forward into 2025?
If you feel like reflecting, I’d love to hear your answers. Or, if you’re not ready to pause just yet, that’s okay too. Reflection doesn’t have to happen now. But when it does, I hope you’ll take the time to honour everything this year has brought you—the good, the challenging, and the in-between.
It’s worth celebrating how far you’ve already come. When you stop to — I bet you’ll be surprised by just how far you’ve come.
What’s one thing 2024 has taught you? Let’s chat below!
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Sometimes, the best gift we can give is the reminder to pause and take stock—because we’ve all come further than we think. Click the button below to pass this on to someone who’d appreciate the power of looking back before moving forward. 💌