Episode 112: Reflecting on 2024 and Setting Goals for 2025

As 2024 comes to a close it's a great time to reflect on what's this year been like for you. Often, as we head into the new year, we can get so forward thinking into the goals we hope to accomplish and the New Year's resolutions and all the things for the new year, but before we do that, let's think about this year. Let's really take a moment to reflect.

In this episode, I go through several thinking routines to help you look back on your year. Get a pen and paper, because you’re going to want to take notes! Also it will help in your reflection. Let’s make the most of this year before looking forward to 2025.

 

Topics Discussed:

  • What words, images, or phrases come to mind when you think about 2024?

  • Reflecting on what you learned about yourself

  • How to re-contextualize the challenges you faced

Resources mentioned:

Related episodes and blog posts:

 
 
 
 

Read the transcript for this episode:

Welcome to Educator Forever, where we empower teachers to innovate education. Join us each week to hear stories of teachers expanding their impacts beyond the classroom and explore ways to reimagine teaching and learning.

Crazily it's December, and as the year comes to a close, it's a great time to reflect on what's this year been like for you. Often, as we head into the new year, we can get so forward thinking into the goals we hope to accomplish and the New Year's resolutions and all the things for the new year, but before we do that, let's think about this year. Let's really take a moment to reflect. 


I know, as a teacher, I always let reflection go. I was like, “Oh, we're so busy. The bell’s ringing, like we don't have time for reflection.” But that was a mistake, because really reflection is where the magic happens, having that moment of slowing down and really thinking about, what have I done this year? What have I learned? What do I want to keep working on? What was hard? What am I proud of? It's so important, and this is really where we can figure out how we're going to move forward and what we're going to move forward to. So before you start setting goals for 2025 I want you to slow down and really think about 2024 so in this podcast, I'm going to walk you through some prompts that you can think about as you reflect on this year. 


So I love thinking routines: things like color, symbol, image; or notice and wonder, and I think we can use something similar when reflecting on 2024. You can think about what words or images or phrases or even symbols come to mind when you think about 2024. For me, I would say tumultuous. There were a lot of ups and downs, and there were a lot of hard things in my personal life. This year, my dad died in the summer, which was obviously so and continues to be so hard. And so along with that, even in a year of profound grief, there were things that I can celebrate, and I can celebrate honestly, getting through and committing to, getting through the grief in a way that works for me, and so for me, that's the first word that came to mind, tumultuous. And for you, of course, it might be something else, or it might be an image that comes to mind, or a phrase, but really taking a moment and thinking about, what has 2023 been about for you, and what have you learned through it. What are you proud of? I find that often I'm the most proud of getting through the hard times, and yeah, I'm proud of accomplishments, of like, we got some really cool new curriculum clients this year. I'm proud of that, and that's great to look back on and think of. But I'm really proud of being able to keep a business running while dealing with some personal hard times and being able to have time with my dad in his last weeks, and being able to still have my business run and grow. So I'm proud of that, and I'm proud of building the systems and the team that allowed me to take that time that I needed. So I think about for you, not only the word, image, phrase, symbol, and this could even be like a collage or a drawing that you do, or a free write, just really thinking about what comes up for you. Looking back on this year, I think it's also interesting in this thought experiment or this reflection, to think about what doesn't come up. You know, so often we can get so stressed out or worried about these little things that happen to us day after day, and then come the end of the year or even later, and we don't even remember. So really thinking about what the words, image, phrases, symbols are can help us hone into what's important. And so after doing that part, I would do some lists. I would reflect on things that brought you joy. When did you feel most excited, most happy? And this is, of course, personal and professional. And then think about what challenges did you face along the way? And then take a moment think about what are you proud of, and really give yourself some props there, like we all have things to be proud of, even if it's just getting through something and so really reflecting on the things that brought you joy, the challenges you faced and what you're proud of, if you don't feel like this, is covered by any of the other categories. You could also think about accomplishments, and you can think about things you want to change, because I know we have those, right? We have things reflecting on the year where we're like, Ah, just never felt like. I had enough time, or, Oh, I never really put myself out there and applied for jobs that I wanted. Whatever it is, don't feel guilty. We all have things, and you can still do the things you want to do. So let go of the guilt or the shame or the feeling bad and just really think about what wasn't working, what wasn't working for you this year that you want to let go of in the new year. 


And then another question to think about when reflecting on 2024 is, what did you learn about yourself? I love this question because I think this is a constant question we should be asking ourselves. So we're always learning and evolving, and we're learning and evolving in our understanding of ourselves. So what did I learn about myself this year? I mean, I learned about myself as a leader, I think, especially in the time when my dad was sick and I needed to take time away with my family. I learned that I could delegate tasks to team members. I learned that I could hone my leadership skills in a new way, and really didn't have to be involved in the day to day all the time, in something that's so important to me, right? Educator Forever. And so I learned about myself as a leader this year. 


And I learned … I feel like I'm always learning, you know about focusing on what's important, focusing on taking the time to be with my family when they needed me, and focusing on the things that are most important in Educator Forever. You all the people listening to this, our community, our teachers advocating for teachers and so really thinking about the bigger why in a new way. And I think in any time when you're with somebody at the end of their life, it gets you thinking about your life, and it gets you thinking about the bigger why and what you want to accomplish. At least it did for me. And so I learned about myself that I want to focus on the things that are most important to me and really lean into those and let anything else go. And so I encourage you to think about, what did you learn about yourself? And maybe you’re like me, a verbal processor, and you can learn through talking about it as I did. Or you can learn through writing about it or drawing about it? Whatever works for you. But really spend the time to think about and record what did you learn about yourself this year. 


And then I would think about different categories of your life, really reflecting on creating balance. And I talk about a lot, you know, leaving the classroom and then still recreating the same old crazy pace of being in the classroom – not the most helpful! I definitely did that, and I feel like it's a constant unlearning for me of how to create balance in a more sustainable way. So I want you to evaluate these eight life categories that I'll talk about,  and you can think about how you're doing,or which ones are important to you, or which ones you want to focus on, or which ones you did focus on or you didn't focus on this year. So the first category is family. So thinking about just like, how do you feel in the realm of family? If you gave yourself a rating of one to five, what would you give yourself in the family category for 2024? Same thing with friends. Do you feel like you saw your friends? Do you feel like you had a good relationship with your friends? How does that feel? One to five. Now finance. How are you feeling about your finances? Again, no shame, no judgment, but one to five. How are you feeling about your financial wellness. Then health. How are you feeling about taking care of your body? One to five, whatever that looks like for you. Spiritual, which could be really tuning in to yourself. It could be a religion. It could be your beliefs. Whatever that means to you, one to five. Then career. How are you feeling about your career? One to five. Then hobbies. Also so important. This is an area where I can grow. Okay, I feel like pretty good in family and friends, pretty good in my career. Hobbies are always the first to go. So for me, thinking about 2024, I'm like, Oh, I definitely could have worked in some more hobbies here. And then lastly, personal growth. So how are you developing your own self? Whatever it is you want to work on, this is so important. And this is what you're doing right now, right you're reflecting on yourself and how you might move forward and support yourself even better. So again, think about these eight life categories, and I'll repeat them for you: family, friends, finance, health, spiritual, career, hobbies and personal growth. And if you're like, some of these don't pertain to me, that's okay. Take them off the list, but think about rating yourself on a scale of one to five, and jotting down any ideas or things you notice as you do this reflection. 


So now, hopefully you have a sense of like, what your 2024 has been about. What have you learned? How have you grown? Where are you seeking balance? Or where have you created balance for yourself in these different categories? And from here, you can really start to set some goals for 2025. And so you can look back on your answers for those eight life categories and pick maybe two or three areas to focus on for 2024. And you can draw or free write or dream about goals related to each of these areas. But I love this way of approaching goal setting because it comes from a need. It comes from thinking about where you're at right now and where do you want to go, and then creating goals that will get you from point A to point B. But I think it's so important that you start with where you're at now, and that you reflect on how far you've come, because even if you feel like you're in a similar spot that you were last year, I promise you you're not. I promise you that you've been thinking and growing and learning and evolving, even if all the outside things look the same, even if you're still in the same job, or maybe you're still struggling with some of the same things you have learned and grown and evolved. So reflect on and celebrate that, and then anything that's not working, any areas where you hope to continue to grow or learn or evolve, that's where we're going to focus next. We're going into a new year, so setting some goals that'll support you to build off of the growth you've had this year. I would love to hear about your reflections. Please share them, and I would love to hear about your goals for the new year. If you're looking for support to accomplish those goals, we'd love to have you in our Educator Forever network, where you're supported or we are committed to advocating for teachers and building a supportive community that helps folks reach their goals. So I'll put the link to that if you're interested in joining us, we'd love to see you there, and I can't wait to see what you do in 2025.


Transcribed by https://otter.ai



Lily Jones