Year End Reset & Define Your Focus for 2025
“There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind" - C.S. Lewis
This article is part of the Planning Tools series. Find the list of posts here and the video playlist here.
An end of year review can be a really insightful exercise to do.
This can be done for your charity, social enterprise or community group, but it also works as an individual activity, as a way of reflecting on what’s worked, what didn’t go to plan, and helping to clarify what you want to prioritise for the year ahead.
Try these questions, which you can complete in the attached PDF template.
You can watch me filling out my review in this video, and I’ll put some examples below too.
Looking back:
Which connection do I feel like celebrating?
Have you built personal or professional relationships this year where you’ve felt a real connection or shared goal? These connections can be with individuals or organisations, customers, beneficiaries or a wider audience. When you think about all the people you’ve come into contact with this year, which one really stands out?
What feedback did I get?
We get feedback all the time, in both formal and informal ways. What do you keep hearing from colleagues, friends, customers, service users? What have people been trying to tell you – both good and bad?
What was the highlight and why?
I prefer this question to ‘what worked?’ as it encourages you to pull from your memory that one moment where everything just felt right. What’s the one thing you’re really proud of this year, or that had the most positive effect on your life or work?
Looking ahead:
Who do I want to reach?
This might be a group of people you want to help or a community you’d like to support. It could also be an individual, company or organisation you want to collaborate with. When you think about your network, who or which role is absent?
What am I missing?
It’s likely you already know what you could or should be doing to get the outcome you desire, even if it feels difficult or impossible right now. If that’s the case, write it down anyway – what are you not doing that could help you to make progress? Another way to think of this, for an organisation, is what are people asking for that you’re not currently delivering? In other words, what is the gap?
How do I want to make an impact?
When you think about your future success, what are the actions you would like to lead to helping people in some way? What are the services or projects that you believe could make the biggest difference in the world?
Read over your answers and, looking to the year ahead, summarise those answers into three categories:
Who?
What?
How?
Now use these to write a focus statement - it might take a few attempts to reach something that feels right to you. You may also want to have one personal statement and one for your work.
Next year I/we will reach/help/connect with [WHO] to [WHAT] by [HOW]
Examples:
Next year I will connect with other freelance artists to find the information and networks I need to create a community gallery.
Next year we will help our older residents to make new friends and feel less isolated by running a new weekly craft group.
Next year we will reach single parents on a low income needing help to navigate the welfare system by holding drop-in surgeries in every village within our town.
As a follow-up question, reflect on:
What does this mean leaving behind or not doing/prioritising moving forward?
I’d love to read your focus statement – feel free to comment in either Substack or YouTube.
Rachel x