Looking Back, Looking Forward: Your Year-End Reflection Guide

At the end of each year, I always invite you to join me in reflecting on the past 12 months and setting intentions for the coming year. This is a valuable exercise, and I find it especially meaningful because we do it as a community.

I invite you to carve out a few quiet moments (even 10 minutes will do) to reflect on 2024. Grab a pen and paper – while digital notes work, too, there's something powerful about putting pen to paper that helps embed these insights more deeply. Don't aim for perfection; just capture your honest thoughts as they arise.

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

1. What Did You Learn About Yourself as a Leader in 2024?

In a year marked by continued uncertainty and change, what did you observe about your leadership style and approach? What patterns emerged in how you navigated challenges and opportunities? This year, I have really emphasized clarity and efficiency. As a team, we have created more space for higher-impact work and have streamlined, standardized, and automated a lot.

2. What Leadership Lessons Did Others Model for You?

Our growth often comes through watching and learning from those around us. What leadership qualities inspired you this year? What approaches made you think differently about your own style? I’ve had a lot of “real” conversations this year and see the power of showing vulnerability. When people can admit that they are stuck, it gives others the opportunity to step in, give support, and build stronger relationships with them.

3. What Will You Carry Forward into 2025?

Which accomplishments are you most proud of, and what enabled those successes? What strategies, mindsets or practices served you well? How can you put them into play more deliberately in 2025? I am so proud of what our team has accomplished this year. We had four implementations of New Lens with huge/Fortune 100 companies, we were on Bloomberg, and New Lens and Newberry Solutions got some big awards. That takes teamwork, passion, and commitment.

4. What Are You Ready to Leave Behind?

What limiting beliefs, concerns or approaches no longer serve you? What lessons from setbacks or challenges will help inform better choices ahead? We did a lot of experimentation in 2024 to help inform our go-forward approach. It was tiring and I’m ready to leave that fatigue behind. We’ve distilled some good lessons. Now, it’s time to focus on amplifying what worked and bring more ease and fun into 2025.

What insights came up for you as you answered these questions? Did anything surprise you? On my LinkedIn page, you can join the conversation about this year-end reflection.

How Can We Support You in 2025?

This marks our final article of 2024, but we'll return in January with fresh insights on leadership development. If you're planning for 2025, remember that Newberry Solutions is here to help. Our work with organizations across industries gives us unique insight into the trends and challenges leaders are facing. Whether through our New Lens® platform or other services, we'd love to explore how we can support your goals.

I'm deeply grateful for this community and the privilege of being part of your leadership journey this year. From all of us at Newberry Solutions, we wish you a peaceful holiday season and an inspiring start to 2025.

Reflecting on 2023 and Welcoming 2024

It's that time of year again – the season of reflection and renewal. For those who've been following this blog for a while, you know this article is a holiday tradition for us. Each year, as the calendar turns, we share a set of thought-provoking questions designed to help you process the past year's experiences and look ahead to the opportunities and challenges that the new year brings.

Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay

Dedicating just a few distraction-free minutes (as little as 10 will do the trick) to reflect can help you walk away with substantial insights. We've heard from both our coaching clients and dedicated readers that these end-of-year questions help build momentum and set a positive tone for the year to come.

Ready to get started? Just grab a pen and paper. (Yes, you can use your computer if you want, but you'll get the most out of this exercise if you write your answers out by hand because it engages your brain differently.) Remember, the goal isn't perfection; it's simply capturing your initial thoughts as they arise. There's immense value in slowing down and listening to your own insights.

What Did You Learn About Your Leadership in 2023?

What did you observe about yourself as a leader over the past year? What recurring themes or patterns did you notice?

One thing I realized this year was that I really benefited from putting myself in different settings with different people. These experiences exposed me to new ideas, shifted my thinking and added some new relationships to my network. I’ll maintain this focus as a way to continue to broaden my thinking in 2024.

What Did You Learn from Other Leaders?

Our growth as leaders often hinges on the wisdom and experiences of those around us. What lessons did you glean from your interactions with other leaders? Reflecting on those experiences can illuminate your path forward.

In 2023, I saw more leaders who embody the idea that vulnerability is strength. (Or maybe I’m spending my time with bolder leaders!) They remind us that everything doesn’t have to look perfect and that it’s OK to share your ups and downs because it gives others permission to be more authentic about their own experiences.

What Do You Want to Take Forward Into 2024?

Successful leaders recognize the importance of self-awareness. Do you pause often enough to acknowledge your accomplishments and how you achieved them? Identifying your 2023 wins and the strategies that fueled them will help you be more deliberate in using those strategies.

For me, 2023 was the first year without physical constraints since my surgeries in 2020. I got back to exercising regularly and was able to take some adventurous trips. Both things helped me keep my energy level high, and I plan to tap into the power of being in nature, exercising  and traveling in 2024.

What Do You Want to Leave Behind?

Have you experienced any setbacks, conflicts, limiting beliefs or lingering thoughts about changes you've been through this year? Resilience is not merely about powering through; it involves proactive introspection and learning. Reflecting on setbacks allows you to identify what may have impeded your progress and empowers you to make more informed choices in 2024.

When I thought about this question, I realized that in my eagerness to get New Lens® out to a broader audience and democratize access leadership development, I was spending too much time focusing on the gaps instead of my progress. We had some huge wins this year that I allowed to be clouded by my giant goals. Next year, I plan to focus on my passion and progress and celebrate our successes a bit more. 

As you prepare for 2024, equip yourself and your team with powerful tools designed to drive high performance and advance careers. If you haven't explored it yet, checkout our award-winning New Lens app which is designed to do just that. Schedule a demo now, and let's explore how New Lens can elevate you and your team in the coming year.

Finally, I so appreciate you being part of our community in 2023. This marks our final article for the year, but we're excited to return in the first week of 2024 with more resources to help you achieve your goals. All of us at Newberry Solutions wish you a joyous holiday season, a reflective close to 2023 and a prosperous start to 2024!

4 Questions to Close the Year

This blog has a holiday season tradition. At the end of each year, I share a few questions that will help you reflect on the past 12 months and look forward to the next 12. I do this exercise myself every year because it yields big insights from a very small investment of time. I’ve heard from both my coaching clients and readers of this blog that they also build a lot of forward momentum through these end-of-year questions.

Photo by Tim Hüfner on Unsplash

If you’ve done this exercise before, you probably remember the drill. If not, all you will need are a few distraction-free minutes (as little as 10 should do the job) and a pen and paper. (Yes, you can use your computer if you want, but you'll get the most out of this exercise if you write your answers out by hand.) Don’t overthink. Just write down the first things that come to mind for you. There’s a lot of value that comes from just slowing down and listening to your thoughts.

Ready to get started?

1. What Did You Learn About Your Leadership in 2022?

This year put many of us to the test as we coped with the Great Resignation and the impact of a challenging economy. What did you observe about yourself as a leader in 2022? What themes or patterns do you see?

2. What Did You Learn from Other Leaders?

You can learn a lot about the kind of leader you want to be, and the kind you don't want to be, from the other leaders around you. What did you learn from the leaders around you from the way that they prioritized, brought out the best in others and took care of their own well-being?

3. What Do You Want to Take Forward Into 2023?

Do you want to know a common mistake that even successful leaders make? They don't pause often enough to notice what they're achieving and how they're achieving it. When you understand how you accomplish what you do, you can put your personal best practices into play more deliberately—and help others leverage them too. What were your wins in 2022? How did you make them happen? By identifying what you did well, you can be deliberate about tapping into the power of those strategies in 2023.

4. What Do You Want to Leave Behind?

The end of the year is a good time to think about any setbacks, mistakes, conflicts or big changes that you find yourself dwelling on. Sometimes we can stay stuck in frustration even as we push ourselves to move forward and be more resilient. But resilience doesn’t mean simply powering through. Instead, it requires delving into our thoughts and feelings and taking a look at successes and failures – so we can learn from them and make different choices. Taking some time to reflect on these things can help us identify what got in our way, as well as what we can do differently in the future – and avoid taking baggage into next year.

Planning for Next Year?

I hope that this article helps you close out the year at work on an inspired note. I’m so grateful to you for reading these articles and engaging with Newberry Solutions this year. This is our last article of 2022, but we’ll be back in the first week of 2023 with more resources to help you accomplish what’s important to you.

As you look toward the new year, arm yourself and your team with easy-to-use, high impact tools. If you haven’t already, check out the award-winning New Lens app, our program to develop effective leaders at all levels in a way that is affordable and scalable. We would love to help you determine if it’s a fit. Schedule a demo now.