Reflecting 2017 successes & creating accountability for the year ahead: WAVEMAKERS Highlife
‘Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.’
A.A. Milne, Writer of Winnie-the-Pooh
On Wednesday 6th December, after a long day at work I raced to the Wavemakers #Highlife event. Little did I know what the evening had in store for me…
After attending the summer social earlier this year and the great vibe and discussions I had there, I knew I couldn’t miss their 2017 Review event. The purpose of the event was to celebrate and review our ideas implemented and goals set in 2017 as well as think about how we can make 2018 bigger and better.
There’s power in planning with community.
The session began with everyone introducing themselves followed by Abiola and Simi giving some background on WAVEMAKERS and the plan for the network in the new year.
Throughout the rest of the evening, each attendee had a vision board to create and build. We started by defining our Vision, followed by reflecting on our greatest lessons learnt and measurable impacts we have had in 2017. Here are some questions we discussed on the night, that I would encourage you to ask yourself to begin your process of reflection.
- What will be written on your future Wikipedia page(if you were to have one)? What has been your greatest lesson learnt about yourself in 2017?
- What new skills have you gained and how did you learn them? Was it effective? Are you still using these skills?
- How have you grown your network in 2017?
- How has your personal brand developed in 2017? How has your LinkedIn changed and improved? Does this align with your vision?
The reflection from these questions was immense and the room was filled with a huge sense of gratitude.
I always find that it is hard to find the time to pat yourself on the back for things you have done well, and often we are running to reach the next milestone, forgetting that our current state was our dream a few years ago.
After this we spent about 15 minutes thinking to the future and asking...
‘How can we use what we have learnt in 2017 to make a bigger impact in the coming year? ‘
During the session, we encouraged ourselves to think big. Everyone was really open and honest, sharing their plans and visions for the new year. This created accountability within the group, so that in a few months’ time we can remind each other ‘where is that podcast you aimed to launch?’ or ‘how is your coding course coming along?’. Through sharing our goals it was clear to see that people within the room could help each other or partner up.
Finally, the evening ended over glasses of prosecco and great discussions about the future with other like-minded and motivated young people. I really enjoyed this Wavemakers workshop and through it I learnt once again the importance of taking time out for reflection and gratitude in this journey we call life!
So during this festive period and early days of 2018, please take some time out to reflect on everything small and big, you have accomplished.
Don’t miss the next WAVEMAKERS event — they are something truly powerful and special and I can guarantee you will be seeing some exciting things from this community in 2018. To join the WAVEMAKERS community, click here — you can also connect with them on Twitter and Instagram.
Watch this space and have a great start to 2018.
This post was written by @MillennialMaryA who is a Management consultant and also a blogger on Medium at A Millennial’s Diary — sharing her insights as a young professional in the City.
