Your Essential Mid-2021 Self-Review
Did you open your yearly planner recently and wonder:
How is it June already?
Wasn’t it spring just a few days ago?
The year seems to be zipping right past us. Once that reality sinks in for just a minute, you’ll probably realize that it’s time for a mid-year check-in.
While mid-year performance reviews are commonplace in a work setting, bringing it closer to home can be a valuable tool for personal growth.
Sadly, however, looking back can seem hard, especially if we’ve slacked on our goals. We judge ourselves and feel the need to look good in our own eyes. Our inner critic makes it extra hard for us to objectively evaluate ourselves.
You are not alone in your struggle, which is why we chalked out a five-step plan of action to help you cruise through your mid-year self-review.
5 Ways To Objectively Self-Review This June
You might be asking yourself:
- Did I make the healthy lifestyle changes I said I would at the beginning of the year?
- How am I doing in terms of productivity?
- Am I any closer to joy and emotional wellness than I was at the start of the year?
Here are a few tips so you are not so hard on yourself and can be objective about your self-evaluation.
1. Create Space for Introspection
Surroundings have a huge impact on our psyche, so it makes sense to create a cozy zone when taking on an uphill challenge.
You might want to declutter your space. Set the mood and make it inviting. Are candles, incense sticks, crystals your jam? Make a list of everything that’ll make you sink into a self-introspection mood, and add those items to your zen zone.
Set yourself a date for introspection, harness the energy of your zen space, and say get-set-go for your self-review.
Remember to go easy on yourself and amp up your self-love game.
Read next: Learn more about how to up the hygge vibes of your space.
2. Celebrate Small Wins
Are you someone who effortlessly nitpicks at yourself and has trouble celebrating your own small victories?
Looking back doesn’t always mean you need to overanalyze and be hyper-critical of yourself.
Celebrating small wins can help rewire our brains and strengthen our self-trust. Over time, such repetitive reminders slowly begin to have a positive cascading effect on personal growth.
But what does a small win look like?
Say, for instance, your big-picture goal for the year was to eat more fruits and vegetables. But maybe all you really could manage from January to June was to eat one extra every once and a while. Pause and acknowledge that even a small step is still is a step forward.
Open your journal and pen down, “In 2021, I upped my fruit and veggie intake." While you’re at it, use heart-shaped stickers and other fun journaling accessories to show yourself some self-love.
Bottom line: Be proud of yourself! You’re doing great!
3. Deal With Your Resistance to Change
Resistance to change arises from our subconscious mind and hijacks our ability to effortlessly achieve our goals.
Your conscious thinking might point to a long list of new year’s resolutions that you have every intention of chasing down and accomplishing.
Sadly, societal conditioning of making us fear failure along with the all-consuming fear of self-judgment can keep you from taking action and achieving your goals. Dig into your shadow/subconscious mind and identify what hidden thoughts are actually running the show.
By doing this, you can release the resistance to change you might be experiencing and instead watch yourself stick to your resolutions all year long.
4. Ask Yourself What You Have Learned
All too often, we get caught up in regret because of our past actions. In truth, however, it’s our head telling us fictional stories.
One of the key rules for existence is acknowledging that there are no mistakes, only experiences. Having a “no losses, only-experiences” mindset actually allows us to accomplish everything we’ve set out to do, as well as help us exit a never-ending exhausting worry loop.
During your mid-year check-in, be sure to ask yourself: “What did I learn from this experience? How can I move ahead?”
5. Look Ahead
You’ve hopefully been able to take away a lesson or two from this self-review checklist. See! It wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be, was it?
Now it’s time to look ahead.
With a new perspective in mind, use three keywords to describe what the rest of the year will look like for you. Using this as a framework, revise your goals and intentions, and get clear about an action plan to chase down these goals.
Owning our actions in this way can help us step into our true power.
It’s Time to Create Change
Take a moment, say hurray, and applaud yourself for committing to your own personal performance review! Understand that you can create your own reality and power through your renewed goals for the year.
Write down your plan to really walk the walk, and you might be surprised what other changes you can implement for the rest of the year.
Related article: Try reading Mantras to Manifest Success in 2021 to help you create the life you always wanted for yourself
