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In today’s episode of the Leader Fluent Podcast, I’m talking about, “Questions to Start the New Year.” As we launch into a new year, I’ve found some great questions to help me reflect on where I’ve been and prepare for where I want to go. Today, I’ll share these questions with you, and I have a very special announcement to share with you at the end of the episode. If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated. 

SHOW NOTES:

It’s the start of a new year and that means many of us are setting goals and planning our path for what we’d like to do accomplish in the days ahead. To help you maximize where you want to go, I’d like share two types of questions that I ask myself each year at this time: REFLECTION QUESTIONS and REFOCUSING QUESTIONS. The reflection questions deal with the past 12 months, and the refocusing questions deal with the next 12 months. Under each category I have five questions. 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What am I thankful for?

When you start the reflection process by asking, “What am I thankful for,” you’re able to reframe the year from a positive perspective. 

2. How did I grow? 

This question is important because it forces me to reflect on the lessons I’ve learned over the last 12 months (in any area of life). This can happen by reflecting on my personal growth plan, life lessons in general, and the books that I’ve read. 

3. Who did I invest in? 

This question is really important because our legacy in life is often tied to the people we invested in the most. These people may be family, friends, colleagues, clients, or a host of other people. When you reflect on your list of people, you’ll quickly discover where you saw the greatest return on your investment of time and effort. 

4. How did I spend my time?

John Maxwell says that your success is determined by your daily agenda. Therefore, each year I’ll take my calendar from the past 12 months and reflect on how I used my time each day. When I do this, I’m looking for the three P’s: 

• Priorities – How much of my time did I spend on my highest priorities? 
• People – How much time did I spend with my family, friends, staff, leaders, and other important relationships in my life? 
• Patterns – What patterns have emerged in my schedule that reveal a poor use of time?

When I go through my calendar, I’ll take notes on these three things—priorities, people, and patterns. Then, I’ll make appropriate adjustments for the new year. 

5. How did I live out my mission and values?

Several years ago I created a life mission statement and a handful of core values. At the close of each year, I’ll reflect on my mission and values to determine how well I’m living them out each day. 

REFOCUSING QUESTIONS:

1. What is my growth plan?

Each year I create a personal growth plan at the start of the year—I often refer to it as a personal growth TRAC…T-R-A-C. The word TRAC stands for Target, Roadmap, Accountability, and Check-Up. In other words, I identify the target areas I want to grow in, then I create a roadmap to grow, then I invite someone to hold me accountable for my growth, and finally I’ll do check-ups throughout the year to monitor progress. You can access my free ebook, How to Create a Plan for Personal Growth (which unpacks the Growth TRAC model) HERE.

2. What are my ministry goals?

While a growth TRAC focuses on my personal growth, ministry goals focus on the health and growth of the church I lead. So, how do you know which ministry goals you should pursue? Consider a few thoughts such as: 

• Will this goal drive us closer to our vision?
• Will this goal help us become more healthy as a church or organization?
• What single goal, if reached, would make the greatest difference in our organization right now?
• Why do we believe this goal is the best place to invest our time, energy, and resources? 
• Is the timing of this goal right? 
• What will reaching this goal make possible? 

3. Who will I invest in?

This question is an easy one to overlook, but it’s really powerful. You want to start the year be determining who the people are where your investment of time and energy will make the greatest impact. Obviously, some of these relationships will be family and friends, but also think about it in terms of key leaders, staff, or volunteers in your organization. 

4. What will I stop, start, or delegate?

After you’ve done a day-by-day reflection on how you spent your time in the previous year, you should be equipped to answer this question. Why? Because you’ll be aware of the priorities, people, and patterns that emerged in how you’ve been using your time. With that information, you should be able to pinpoint pretty quickly what you need to stop, what you need to start, and what you need to delegate to someone else. For example: 

• Your Stop List will likely include things outside your strengths or that are a bad use of time for somebody in your position
• Your Start List should include things that leverage your strengths and time for the health and growth of the organization
• Your Delegate List should include things that have to be done, but not necessarily by you

5. How will I better align my time with my mission and values?

This last question helps me determine what changes I need to make in the new year to make sure my life is further aligned with my mission and my values. Living out your life purpose is a matter of wise stewardship, so you’ll want to drill down on what changes you need to make to better steward your life and time toward the mission God has entrusted to you. 

One final observation: I want you to notice something about both sets of questions. None of them are “yes” or “no” questions. They all require an explanation. This forces you to provide enough detail to adequately reflect and appropriately refocus. 

CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK

I’m excited to announce the launch of my new book, Stop Chasing Easy: Pursuing a Life that Counts Today…and For Eternity. You can learn more HERE along with the great BONUS CONTENT available when you purchase your copy.

LEADER FLUENT RATING OR REVIEW

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