7 Revealing Questions – chrisaltrock.com

Michael Hyatt offers these 7 questions to ask about last year as you prepare for the New Year:

If the last year were a movie of your life, what would the genre be? Drama, romance, adventure, comedy, tragedy, or a combination?

One of my friends who lost a son, said simply, “Tragedy.”
Another, who got engaged and married said, “Romance.”
Still another, who experienced one misfortunate after another, said “Comedy—in fact, slapstick!”

What were the two or three major themes that kept recurring? These can be single words or phrases. For me, they were:

Deeply moving times with friends and family
Making difficult decisions in the face of the economic crisis
Learning to get along with less and enjoying it more

What did you accomplish this past year that you are the most proud of? These can be in any area of your life—spiritual, relational, vocational physical, etc. Be as specific as possible. Here are some of mine:

Running the half marathon in April, even though I almost didn’t at the last minute
Cutting our company’s expenses to maintain the health of the business
Having eight of the top ten books on the November Christian bestsellers list
Getting my oldest daughter married and seeing her relationship with her new husband flourish

What do you feel you should have been acknowledged for but weren’t? Okay, this is a little too personal for me to respond to directly. But here are some examples of what others might say:

Working two jobs as a single mom to provide for my family
Not giving up on my marriage when it would have been easier to quit
Making time to workout, even though I wanted to sleep in.

What disappointments or regrets did you experience this past year? As leaders, we naturally have high expectations of ourselves and others. Where did you let yourself down? Where did you let others down? Here are some of mine:

Laying off so many of our employees, including some very dear friends
Failing to articulate the vision and be a better source of encouragement to my team
Not really unplugging from my vacation in October like I had planned
Losing focus on my exercise regimen and having to keep re-starting it

What was missing from last year as you look back? Again, look at each major area of your life. Don’t focus now on having to do anything about it. For now, just list each item. Here is my list:

More time spent on strategic planning, particularly vision and strategy
More time reading offline (i.e., books)
Time to really unplug and not think about work
More time with my parents

What were the major life-lessons you learned this past year? Boil this down to a few short, pithy statements. For example:

There comes a point in every experience where I am too far in to quit but almost certain I can’t finish. If I keep moving forward I will eventually get to the other side.
Being present with the people I love is the most important gift I can give them.
Don’t over-think the outcome; just do the next right thing.