Do This for Your Mid-Year Check-In.

Hello friend!

Greetings from East Asia 🙌

We’re done with half of 2024.

It’s time to check-in to lock in the wins so far this year and plan for an even better next 6 months.

1. Build awareness

(Why does this matter?)

In the wise words of John Dewey:

We don’t learn through experiences, we learn through reflecting on experiences.

Reflecting is the best way we build insight, establish learnings, and explore possibilities.

And that’s how we truly grow.

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2. Make these choices:

(decisions/actions to bring it to life)

1. Simplify your reflection: it doesn’t have to be a few pages of poetic sentences. A simple bullet format is enough.

2. Follow a process: I’ve used different journals over the last 10 years, and have stuck with one method for the last 3. Its simplicity makes it strong. Here’s how:

➠ First: reflect on what went well. You want to start with what worked well so you celebrate the wins made so far.

➠ Second: reflect on one thing that you could have done better. The intent in choosing only 1 rather than, say 3 for example, is out just to ‘avoid the negative’. Rather, it is about being laser focused on one thing so you can get better at it. It is better to do this than making mediocre progress on 3 (and lose motivation to continue).

➠ Third: what’s next. Keeping a bias towards actions means translating your reflection into new behaviors. That’s how change happens (and that’s what most unsuccessful plans miss to do).

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3. Build them in a system:

(so it becomes a habit)

Keep a journaling practice you can depend on:

1. Reflect monthly to make immediate changes.

2. Quarterly to make medium term decisions.

3. Annually to make strategy changes.

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The secret is in keeping it simple, so you can keep it consistent.

Have a Super Sunday!

With much joy,

Hashim