Dangerous Leader: Goodbye, 2023. Welcome, 2024

I am sure many of you are done with year-end details at work. Or maybe it’s the end of a quarter at work, which is also the end of a cycle in preparation for a new one.

Regardless of when your fiscal cycles roll, most of us can agree that the end of a calendar year is a time to consider what it means to complete this cycle. And not just at work.

I sing the praises of regular self-analysis as it pertains to three primary categories: What has happened? How does it look now? What will I do next?

These three questions have served me well through the many cycle transitions I have survived, both calendar- and event-driven.

This year taking the time to reflect on these questions has special meaning for me as I started this year as a wife and now end it as a widow. It would not surprise me to hear that many of you have felt your own versions of this kind of significant change in your life this past year.

The gift of change is one thing we can count on as humans. So why not be deliberately involved in the act of change through your own reflection and awareness of self?

Let’s break down the three questions and why they are helpful.

What has happened?

This question allows you to list your triumphs and celebrate those achievements, while also looking at the tragedies and learning opportunities that arose.

It isn’t a declaration of your faults nor is it a blind eye to your victories. It is an honest assessment of what happened.

I prefer to write these things out. There is something significant about putting the truth on paper. You do you.

How does it look now?

As you consider the previous cycle, how does it feel?

Maybe you feel accomplished and satisfied, ready for a new challenge. Or you feel the intention of more work to be done where you are.

The way 2023 has gone may have changed the way you view the world, because who you are in it shifted. Increasing your awareness of that difference can be key to your current and future decision-making.

What will I do next?

This is such a simple question that is laced with complexity in its deepest depths.

So often the options are boundless until we begin to fence them in with our perceived limits or choices about what we want next.

Regardless of how you ask this question, it is an important one to seek answers to. Life can feel like it collides with us when we fail to grab its hand and walk with it.

A new cycle

Think of these questions as the “end-of-year cycle” for your emotional energy and intellectual intentions as you move into the new cycle.

As you greet 2024, do it with the awareness of who you are and what you want this new cycle to feel like. Remember you are not done.

My new year’s wish for you is the ability to accommodate the growth that follows. Live Dangerously. Be You.

Jennifer Smith is a Cedar Rapids-based personal and executive coach, host of The Dangerous Leader Podcast, and unapologetic optimist. Comments: jennifer@dangerousleader.com; @drjennsmith