You might sometimes find yourself reminiscing about the past — things you have done in your career, your performances at school, or a sporting event. Chances are that you thought that if you knew then what you know now, you would have done so much better.
When people look back on their past performances, they’re often distracted by the results. They are focusing on success rather than improvement. People should give themselves more credit for how they reframe mistakes or manage their emotions after setbacks — or even embracing that poor performance sometimes happens. Look at past events with a focus on the process rather than on the outcomes.
Carol Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist, refers to this as “process praise.” This is where you give others (teammates, fellow students, children) positive recognition for the preparation, perseverance, and improvement they made. Dweck’s work shows that utilizing this skill builds the foundation of a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.
The science behind process praise involves process reflection, in which, regardless of the result, you shift focus from winning to getting better. Everyone can develop their own method of reflecting on a process. Here are some questions to help you get started:
- How did I prepare mentally, and what was my intention? What did I do well in the process?
- How did I envision myself making my intention a reality? How could I have done this differently?
- What did I do well to create a state of optimal performance?
- What could I have done differently with things like mindset, nutrition, and recovery to better support myself on my next attempt? And what would this look like?
You can’t always win — in sports, business, or your personal life. Not every negotiation will go your way, not every sales pitch will be a winner, and not every performance review will be pleasant. But you can keep moving forward and improve with good process reflection, which makes you more skilled and better prepared for the future.
Review your progress for getting better
You should conduct a review every time you set new goals. If you set annual goals for yourself, do a review at the end of the year. If you work with quarterly goals, be prepared to do a review several times a year. These are self-assessments in which you look back on the period since your last review.
By doing regular reviews, you get a continuous flow of adjustments and improvements to enhance your chances of success. Goals are about personal growth and development, and review is crucial. When you review, think about the following things:
- Where were you in your life when you last set goals for yourself?
- What were your successes, and what helped you succeed?
- Did you celebrate your successes?
- Where did you fall short or fail? Why was this the case?
- What have you learned from your journey? What have you learned about yourself?
This process gives you clarity on your personal strengths, and how to better leverage them for future goals. It helps you get honest about your personal weaknesses. Knowing your weaknesses can help you plan around them when setting new goals.
By doing this review on the past, you will be more prepared to set your next goals. You’ll be more confident and have more control over the journey ahead. Your review is a self-assessment on the time since your last goal-setting moment, whether this is the past quarter, six months, or year.
Regular review
With the insights from your most recent success, you can set new goals for yourself. Once you have set your new goals, it’s important to review and re-evaluate them. When you are reviewing goals, it’s important to check your progress and determine if goals are still relevant. And it is important to stay consistent in this rhythm of goal-setting and evaluating.
While some goals can be achieved relatively easily, others take time. The frequency with which goals should be reviewed is dependent on the goals themselves. You’ll get the best outcomes when review and evaluation happen regularly and consistently.
For example, if you’ve set a challenging goal for yourself, you probably added some milestones — or objectives — for yourself on the route toward your goal. You’re wise to review your progress on a regular basis. Being aware of your progress allows for the opportunity to alter your actions if needed.
Perhaps things are not going completely as planned, reviewing regularly allows you to reflect on what isn’t going as well as you have hoped. Is the goal more challenging than you thought? What intermediate actions can you take to improve progress?
By doing regular reviews, you ensure that your goals stay relevant. Is this goal still what you want to achieve? If you don’t monitor your progress, you can lose sight of your ultimate goal — which leads to frustration, disappointment, and less motivation than when you started your journey.
Some goals, like learning a new language, can take months or even years to complete. When working toward long-term goals, it’s a good idea to break them up into more manageable bits (objectives) that can be periodically reviewed in the short term.
Regular updates
Regularly reviewing and updating your personal life plan and goals is a must. As a person you learn and evolve — one year from now, you will have gained new experiences and insights. And these things might even have caused your core values to shift a bit. Reviewing your One Page Life Plan annually is recommended — this can be done when you set new one-year goals. Review the One Page Life Plan before starting this.
You should review and update your one-year goals and tasks on a regular basis. As you actively work on tasks and goals, you learn from them, and in this process, you might find that you’ve set the wrong priorities or forgot crucial tasks (Key Results) to help you achieve your goals. By doing regular and consistent updates, you make sure you are spending your time and efforts in the most efficient way.
Be regular. If you were to ask if “regularly” means monthly, weekly, or daily, I’d say “YES.” Bottom line: The more you review your personal goals, the better. Think deeply about your personal goals at least monthly.
Be consistent. Life coach Tony Robbins says: “It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, it’s what we do consistently.” Consistency is key.
Set reminders for yourself to block the necessary time. For example, spend the first full weekend of December every year setting new one-year goals (and review the goals from the last year). Spend four hours on the first weekend of every month to review and update of your current one-year goals.
By putting this in your agenda on a recurring basis, you force yourself to be consistent. It forces you to opt out when you want to skip it. This way, your chances of success increase, rather than having to opt in once the time comes to make the appointment with yourself.