Looking back, moving forward

A new year is traditionally a time for resolutions; however, there seems to be a renewed focus on the more concrete work of reviewing the past year and celebrating milestones and special moments as a prelude to future planning.

I am especially enjoying this review process in the blogs I read: the people’s journeys I follow there; their aims and strivings; the progress and success they celebrate in various ways and the collective cheering on in progress to their goals I can take part in. This looking back, checking progress, highlighting achievements and tracking the journey is a critical part of moving forward and I am inspired and informed by the journeys of others.

The review can take the form of the writing of a blog as a way of accountability, checking in with readers on the set metrics of progress; for others, it is sheer celebration; for others, it’s a ‘warts and all’ reflection on what happened in 2010 and also what created interest in readers. For most, it’s a combination of all these.

I’m loving reading some of my favourite bloggers’ reflections on their work and achievements in 2010 and directions for 2011. Here are some of my favourite recent reviews:

Joanna Penn’s Review of the Creative Penn Goals for 2010 celebrates the accountability of blogging and how it motivates. Joanna set some incredibly high goals for 2010 and has achieved much. Read about her wonderful achievements including completing her novel and being way up on the lists of bloggers in the writing field.

For sheer celebratory energy, you can’t beat the white hot retrospective by Danielle La Porte. I am big believer in celebrating achievements as a solid and strengthening base for moving forward and this post just shows you why it’s so powerful. I especially loved the manifesto of encouragement – one of my favourite posts of 2010. As Danielle says:

With 900+ tweets, 3800 Facebook shares and 2,600+ StumbleUpons, the manifesto of encouragement took on a life of its own.

It truly was a magical piece of inspired thought and writing that engendered so much depth of heartfelt words in others. I look forward to the sequel and something I can hold in my hand!

Colleen Wainwright, aka The Communicatrix, reflects on the 100 things I learned in 2010 and what’s more has been doing this same process since 2004. Clever, funny, insightful as always, and like Colleen’s weekly round-ups, a rich read – especially for a fellow Virgo. I am thankful for the many valued reflections and resources that come through Colleen’s annual reviews such as how much growth can come from the darkest times.

I’ve only recently started reading Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist blog though clearly many other people are ahead of me here. It’s honest, on the edge and often controversial, it seems, as reflected in the number of comments and the level of engagement of her readers. In her recent, Most popular posts of 2010, Penelope provides a summary of the posts that generated the most comments. It’s another great way of reflecting on progress and a clever way to review.

Shanna Germain, whom I love reading for her incredible commitment to writing and publication and her documentation of the journey, has written a fantastic 2010 Writing Stats post demonstrating her passion and productivity in writing in 2010 and setting the metrics for writing goals for 2011. Chris Guillebeau emphasises the importance of metrics in personal planning and this is a great example of how to measure progress and success: number of submissions, rejections, words written, progress to goal. It’s super impressive in both process and achievements.

My seven stars  still mostly light the way for me as I blog forward but I’m loving finding new voices to read to inform my own path. And yes, I know, I need to work on my own review and goals. It’s coming in its own good time and I look forward to it.

In the meantime, reading and reflecting on the reviews of others is very inspiring in informing my own moving forward.

Who’s lighting your path for 2011?