Personal Quarter Review Time!
I’ve been there, living every day aimlessly going wherever life was taking me at that moment. I was just tired and exhausted and needed to just be… it was what I needed at that moment. However, things changed and soon I found that state of being didn’t serve me any longer, in fact, I started to resent myself and I didn’t like that, and so I decided to take control of my path once again. With the help of a coach, I took some time to introspect and answer some of life’s existential questions like, “ Who the f*** am I?”, “ What do I want to do with my life?”, “What am I doing every day and why am I doing it?” ..Classics. We usually already know the answers to these questions, it’s just either forgotten and we need some help remembering.
I thought I needed to a change of job, which I did to be honest cause I felt like I learnt everything I could in that role. But my uneasiness was more than about just changing my job, I realized I secretly desired a change of lifestyle. You’re job definitely plays a big role cause you spend like 8–10 hours a day doing that thing you do, but you also have another 14–16 hours- How do you spend that?
I decided I wanted to use that time to build a new version of myself- The next stage in evolution. That required to take a close look at the current version, asses it and imagine the future version and then plan and take those small steps towards that. And I make it a point to hold myself accountable to that path and it comes in the form of Personal Quarter Reviews (or at this point a Mid-Year Review)
A lot of organizations do it for themselves and for their employees — Some are meaningful, some are a namesake. I believe if done right, it can fuel energy, give direction and clarity and a sense of purpose to everyone in the building and doing it right for yourself has the same results.
So how do you do it right? I actually don’t know. But here’s what I do and what works for me.
Part 1- Review
- Highs & Lows: Make a list of my highs & lows with the focus on moments, gratitude and people over the last quarter
- Circle of Life: Then I do a checkpoint on my circle of life-
4 Quadrants: Practical, Emotional, Mental & Spiritual
Which is further broken down into 12 parts of my life. I score each part on a scale of 1–10 and give a reason for why it is that score.
Practical- These parts give me grounding
- Money
- Health
- Work & Career
Emotional — These parts keep me flowing
- Family
- Love- Can be further broken down to Self-love & Love towards others
- Friends
Mental — These parts keep my growing
- Personal Development
- Hobbies ( Could also include social life)
- Peer Groups
Spiritual — These parts keep my burning
- Personal Power ( ability to execute and stay disciplined towards your goals)
- Life Purpose ( your understanding of why you’re here)
- Life Meaning ( your understanding of where you’re going)
3. Accomplishments — Things I’m proud of you ( this is not winning trophies, I mean it can be if that’s what you want. These accomplishments are yours, no matter how big or small they are and are measured against yourself, not someone else or someone else’s timeline)
4. Improvements- Things that I feel I can improve on
Part 2- Retrospective
Here I do a summary of the strategies, actions, behaviors, hacks, shifts, etc I implemented towards a way of being/doing/living and assess
- What worked for me?
- What didn’t work for me?
- What would I like to tweak further or make adjustments to?
Part 3- Plan
Here I answer a simple question “ What do I truly want/desire from my next three months?” and I write down what comes to minds based on my freshest thinking from the above two parts.
Sometimes I tend to categorize the goals & actions plans in the12 parts of the circle of life. Sometimes I just do it freestyle.
Part 4- Setting intentions
I end with a little note to myself. It usually includes a set of reminders & reinforcements (of who I am and my values) and intentions (how I want to be, the place from where I’m choosing to operate and what the next three months are all about). Goes something like…
Niels, remember to be kind, grateful and generous, to speak your mind and your truth, to share how you feel…… the next three months is about exploring alternatives and divergence ….etc
And that’s about it.
I usually spread this process out over a day and do it in a location that is nice and calm and lets me think, with my phone on airplane mode. I try as much to cut out external input to focus on internal output. It’s great!
Ok, so in conclusion, you don’t have to do any of the above, if you choose to do so, do it based on what works for you. Pick and break apart my process to create your own or do something completely different. But do take the time to pause and examine the life you’re living, not for anyone else but just for yourself.
Don’t use this time to find another way to be hard on yourself or beat yourself up, but instead to be kind to yourself and show some self-love and self-respect and to honor the one life you have :)
If you need some help, want someone to talk with about the above, do reach out. If you have questions, just ask. If you have suggestions and other methods and tools, do share.
Here are a bunch of my friends who are doing some cool stuff when it comes to personal growth & life design, maybe this helps.
Life Plugin: https://lifeplugin.com/
Life Circle: https://www.ourlifecircle.com
The Happiness Project: https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Project-Actionable-resilience-improvement-ebook/dp/B07SZNX12T/ref=pd_ybh_a_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=38D0T3PTXBNWRFWH7Q53
Looking for a coach? : https://amaliaghiban.com/
That’s all for now. How do you review your life? I’m curious to know.
