Every year, in the early weeks (or the very end) of each year, I sit down with my calendar.
Now, I know we all have electronic calendars, and I also have a large A4 British type paper calendar in which my life is documented each year. I have many of them in my files from past years. It is 12 inches high, 16 inches wide when opened, and actually sits open on a stand on my desk. This is a handsome book, and speaks to the writer in me, and my brain that likes a visual layout. My husband can check my whereabouts when I don’t call in, as we don’t have a family joint online calendar (spare me – it is only the two of us!). But I digress…
So, at the turn of the year, I sit down in my big easy chair with my big paper calendar (yes, you can scroll your electronic one too) and slowly review the year that has passed. It is a quiet time, often a reflective hour. A meditation.
I learn a lot in this hour. I learn how much time I spent pursuing opportunities that failed – and why they failed and why they didn’t look like they would fail, and how long it took me to see that they would fail, and why I decided to walk away.
Same for successes. I remember what attracted me to these good ideas (or people), what made me say yes, what I learned that I didn’t anticipate, what choices I made and what risks I took to play in this sandbox.
I remember what prospects I pursued that I didn’t win, and why (if I know why). I remember what steps I took, and if I took all the steps, or if my energy and interest faltered, and what they said when they passed.
I look at how many pursuits were pursued – the number of prospects in the pipeline, the number of clients, the arc of each client during the year, how many speaking events, how much travel, how much writing.
I look at the clients – the beginning, the learning curve, the first successes, the attempts that didn’t endure, the evolution of the business, the choices and consequences.
And in every case, the wins, the losses, the non-starters… I settle the knowledge in my mind to create a whole picture of how the year evolved. What I did, what I failed to do, what I chose that was correct, what I chose that was mistaken. And in each case, what I learned from each choice. And how to make a better choice next time, this year.
This quiet review of the year’s information sets the learning in my long-term memory, and it becomes knowledge. Deep knowledge of myself, my industry, what clients need, what my business needs, and how all of this changes (or doesn’t) over time, year after year.
The review is one of the reasons I remember all of the 25+ years of my working life – what worked, what didn’t. What never to do again.
This is the basis of deep expertise. And it is only an hour a year. I recommend it.
