Take a minute to pause and reflect. We are about halfway through the year. Some of you may have made New Year’s resolutions, while others may have just made plans for the year. At just over halfway, it’s a good time to pause and reflect.
How has your year been so far? Based on your gut feel, what score would you give 2025 out of 10 right now? 8/10? 4/10? What is it for you?
Pausing and reflecting has a couple of benefits:
You can check in to see if you are on track. You can look at what you have done so far, which steps you have taken towards your goals and ambitions. And you can identify what the next few steps will look like.
It also offers an opportunity to celebrate successes you have had. You may not have reached your ambition or your goal yet, but it is important to notice progress anyway.
Those interim reflections also help to capture anything you have learned. This is useful to decide what you want to keep doing and what you would do differently next time.
Your best mistake?
What was your best mistake so far this year? I know, I know, we don’t usually think of mistakes as something positive, but often they have a positive element to them because they help us learn. So, what mistakes have you made so far this year that you learned a lot from?
Here is an incomplete list of my best mistakes this year so far:
I didn’t ask for help for a while, even though I had a few things going on and other people were able to help me. When I talked to one of my good friends about it, she scolded me for it because she had been wanting to help. While I felt sheepish and like I had been told off, it reminded me that often people want to help and would rather you say something than find out you have been struggling by yourself. It also reminded me that I have amazing friends. Thanks everyone :)
In conversation with someone, I was trying to explain a concept around effective communication. Switching between German and English, I couldn’t immediately think of the most accurate translation, so instead I had to improvise. While the words I ended up using were not what I had initially intended, they turned out to be more effective because they created a better picture in the listener’s mind. They also made them laugh, which was the real win. In that moment, I was worried that I was about to get this wrong. When the other person laughed, it created a connection between us, and I was reminded that often ‘real’ is better than ‘perfect’.
I took too long to make a decision on which side to go down a river in a canoe. As a result, we hit a tree, flipped the canoe, and found ourselves stuck in the middle of a fast-flowing river on a tree while the canoe was merrily floating downstream. A fairly precarious situation, but I learned a lot from it … and lived to tell the tale. Including ‘what not to do next time’. Also - shout out to my friends who rescued us, our canoe, and our stuff.
So, what have your best mistakes been so far this year? What have you learned the most from or what were you reminded of?
Another approach to a little mid-year reflection could be to look back at your plan or resolution from the start of the year. What were you working towards, and how much progress have you made? Make sure you notice all the little steps and bits of progress.
If you were trying to get more confident speaking to or in front of people, count the moments when you have contributed in meetings, when you have supported someone’s view or shared your own. Count the moments when you worked up the courage to speak to someone you didn’t know, or when you asked for help or directions. Progress happens in small steps.
If you are trying to find a new job, count all the applications you have written and submitted and all the research you have done. And count all the rejections you have received, too. Because those are hard to navigate, especially on average days. But they are part of the process.
If you are training for an event or a challenge, reflect on the different training sessions you have done, on what you have learned about nutrition and hydration, and importantly, what you have learned about yourself in the process. How do you act and react when you are tired and grumpy compared to when you are rested and well-fueled? How far can you run, or swim, or throw now, compared to the start of the year?
Do a little stock take.
If you know your values and you work with them or you use them as tools, now is a good time to consider them. It can be useful to reflect against your values. E.g. how well have you been able to live your values in the last six months.
If one of your values is adventure, how have you lived that lately?
If one of your values is kindness, how have you been kind lately?
If one of your values is joy, how have you created joy for yourself lately?
If one of your values is contribution, how have you added to other people’s experiences lately?
If one of your values is advocacy, how have you supported people or causes lately?
Try to be specific. What are the actions you have taken? What were your behaviours?
And then, you guessed it, make a little plan for the next 6 months. What steps are next on your path towards your ambition? What will you do in the next week, month, three month, 6 month to get closer? What will your behaviour look like?
And, just as importantly, what will you not do?
That’s me for this week. Only a short little one. But I hope it leaves you thinking. Always keen to hear from you. Let me know what this made you think about
And if you think someone else might find this post useful, please share it with them.
Key Points:
Halfway reflections are useful because they allow you to check whether you are on track.
You can also take the opportunity to celebrate successes and small bits of progress.
Reflecting allows you to notice and capture what you have learnt so far.
Reflective questions:
I don't think you need any more reflective questions for this one... :)
