74. Year-End Reflection 2024

Hi everyone. I’m Saralyn Hodgkin, and this is the podcast to practice your leadership.

Hi folks. It’s that time of year again, where we tune into ourselves and come into a reflective practice of what’s happened in 2024, what’s coming through in 2025 to just block out the noisy world, tune into you and have some prompts along the way. To look back in order for us to look forward. So in this podcast, we’re going to come into reflective journaling. Um, with some prompts and to set some intentions and I’m going to lead you through it. Um, there is a workbook.

If you, if you want to grab that. Uh, for those who sign up to the newsletter and such, so please do grab it. Um, that can help you follow along. It has all the prompts in it as well. And, um, it’s a choose your own adventure here. So use the workbook, or just take note in your own sketchbook or, uh, just listen to my voice and play with things in your, in your mind as you’re driving, like, however it is that you best learn and hold reflective practice.

Just do that. Yeah. Um, I will say that for me, in order for me to stay conscious on the threads of my journey. Um, and to continue to respect and acknowledge that leadership is a practice for me. And it’s not a state to attain or a title to put on a business card. It is a practice. It is where my agency and my choice can show up. Um, and I’m part of that using reflective practice to be able to sort of just turn down the volume on the noisy world and tune into myself, my storylines, what that looks like for me, so that I can be better equipped within myself.

So I can go and enter into the world with integrity and in alignment with my intentions. So my hope is that in some way, shape or form there are nuggets here for you to pick up, um, with your intentions. And I find that as 2024 and the year draws to a close and we enter into a new year, I try to stand in the qualities of uh, possible possibility and an untapped potential and, um, and try to craft a essence of non-judgment, but just, um, yeah, I think possibility actually is where it sits mostly for me, at least for this year.

It is right. My, one of my intentional words for 2024 was flow being in flow. And that still holds right now. Right? Being in flow with the threads that come from me so that I can um, capture or stay in the river if we’re going with flow, right. I can stay in the river of what is possible. So, yeah, I think the word possibility is just coming up for me.

You’re going to find your own, or take a moment please, to find your own qualities that you want to hold at least this reflective time for. So, we offer the reflective journal for you so that you can, so you can play in a way that that looks, um, useful for you in whatever way that is. We have two parts here. One is reflecting back in 2024.

And the other is to start to look towards 2025 and cultivate the conditions that you want to in order to thrive. Great. So, um, yeah. Resilience, possibility and the practice of leadership. It’s a long-term game folks. And, um, re-imagined productivity allows us to say that rest and reflection is highly productive. So with that. Let’s get into it.

Um, part one here is around reflecting back to 2024 and just honoring if nothing else all that 2024 had for you and its glory and its challenges and all the ways. So our first prompt here is simply just to capture what’s happened for you in 2024. Reflect on the significant happenings that have happened in your life, wherever you lead, love, live with yourself and your community and your work just over the past year.

What has been significant in your life? What are the happenings? What has happened without judgment, without analysis. Yeah. And remember, this is for you, so you don’t have to give a bunch of context. If you can capture those in one word. Or in an image you want to draw. Or you want to give some context or it comes up for you in all these blocks and blobs, or comes to you in like this lovely timeline.

However, it comes for you. Right. You may even see different themes. Themes around your leadership or themes around your family or themes around your work or your community, whatever it is. What’s happened for you? And maybe add a little bit of what was the context of that.

What’s happened for you? What are the significant happenings? And what was the context? Feel free to pause. As we move on to the next prompt.

Next point to capture here is a bit of a highlight reel, right? You’ve just blobbed out a whole bunch of stuff that’s happened for you. Can you pick out some highlights specifically, like, I’m going to say five to eight when we get into 10 or 12 it starts to get too much. So, you know, um, again choose your own adventure here, but I’m going to suggest five to eight highlights from 2024.

If you were to create a my highlight reel I would have Spotify. Uh, Spotify calls it wrapped or something, and you know how all these apps have these different names for just capturing the highlights of what you’ve had. Right. Beyonce was definitely on my list. So it was the tragically hip actually for Spotify. Anyways. Come into a place for yourself. For you, not necessarily music wise, but what’s your highlight reel here. Capture some highlights from all these happenings that you’ve just written down. If you were to create a highlight reel, what are the five to eight highlights from 2024. Remember, you can always pause.

Third prompt here is around.

Um, a word that I use this implication. So if you look at all that’s happened and you look at those highlights. What are the implications of what’s happened? Meaning like why has that mattered? What’s happened in your life because of those happenings in 2024. And, you know, capturing, you know, why, the things that you wrote down, like they have meaning for you.

So it’s not so much that you need to write, write down why it matters, but it’s like, what happened, the implications of that in your life, in your leadership path, in the threads and the possibilities that are before you and, and how you turn left instead of right. When you intended in September for X to happen, but in March, Y happened,

and now here you are in December, right? Like it’s it’s what are the implications of what happened? Maybe they’re emotional, factual, uh, relational. What are the implications of what’s happened? And second to that. What didn’t happen that you intended? Right. What are the implications of what happened? Another way to turn that is like, with what happened, why did it matter? And what resulted or what were the ripple effects? Second part to that is what didn’t happen.

Maybe you intended, dreamt up, even laid the seeds for certain things to happen, but they didn’t. What didn’t happen in 2024.

And again, staying curious through all of this, when you, when you capture some of that. Another prompt here, folks is when you’re, when you’re reflecting all of that what, what were you paying attention to over 2024?

What were you paying attention to over 2024?

Okay.

Next question here is when you look at what’s happened, what the implications were, let’s have a prompt here around and it’s in the reflective workbook. About where was your resilience at? Right. What did, what did that, what was your, um, you know, I call it a, I use one, um, authors term around window of tolerance.

Like how, how resilient were you in the various forms that resilience takes? Where was your resilience at your window of tolerance? How open was it or was it closed all the time? Wide window of tolerance being high, like really resilient can take it all. Small window narrowed, window of tolerance being like really stressed and reactive and not able to be responsive, but triggered right. So the prompt here is where was your resilience at over 2024? And what internal to you or external to you factors effected that resilience this year? And it could be stuff that’s happened to you. It could be stuff that’s happened in your family, could be stuff that’s happening in the world. Whatever that looks like for you. Where was your resilience?

What if you were to track it over 2024? What did it look like? And the second part of that is what practices, if you look back, what practices helped fuel your resilience. And really take a moment, even if you didn’t have a conscious practice around your resilience and cultivating resilience. Think about the times when you were able to breathe better or do something for yourself that lets you grieve or move through or hold yourself, or just come into a state where you could see yourself between a stimulus and a response. Right. A space where you were able to respond versus react. So again, where was your resilience at over 2024? What effect did that internally or externally.

And what practices helped you fuel that resilience? Capture some of that for yourself.

Again, pausing in between prompts if that’s helpful. Going to the next um, prompt here. Just as a, I guess, an offering and again, it’s in the reflective workbook, an offering of, of, a framing here to sort of, um, integrate a little bit about what you’re learning about yourself. And the prompt here is about capturing um, from the highlights and what’s happened and the implications of that, capturing that in a framing of what worked for you this year, what didn’t work for you this year? And in the sort of lower row, the row below. Uh, what do you want more of from 2024? What do you want less of from 2024. Yeah.

Again, you know that that first row, the two questions are what worked for you. And what didn’t work for you. When you, when you review what you’ve captured here.

And the next row down is very much about what do you want more of? Like, what do you want to bring in to 2025? And you want more of that? And what do you want less of?

Now. Let’s come into a space of what all this means for you and your, your energy. I really feel that energy is a form of our currency, our power, our clout, right. It, uh, it, it, when we, when we can manage our energy and, and be able to acknowledge that, it has for me anyways, it has a lot more meaning for me, of how I move through the world then getting something done, checking something off a uh, a checklist.

How much money I earn, where I show up, like energy is such a, an important aspect of my life and managing myself with my energy. So let’s just take a moment, gather some awareness in your body. Right? Take a breath. Ground yourself, route yourself, tap into your energy where you’re at right now. And I want you to, I want you to think about or play with, flirt with what needs nurturing for you. What gives and takes your energy? What makes you feel alive and thrive?

What needs nurturing? What gives and takes your energy? What makes you feel alive? And, and the, um, reflective journal. We have a space there for you to capture what gives you energy and what depletes your energy. And there’s also a space for you to just capture a bit of what comes right. What needs nurturing, what gives and takes my energy. Right. What makes me feel alive? And again, this might come in the form of images. Or it might come in the form of questions for some, however, it comes for you. Capture that for yourself.

And now that you’ve reflected on your significant moments in 2024, the context, the implications, your resilience. Your energy and so on.

Now what? Now what are you going to do with that? What does this mean for you going forward? What I’d like you to do is write down three commitments that you want to bring forward into the new year. 20 is too many. Right. I want you to just really sit with the essence of three commitments that you want to bring forward into the new year. We want to use these learnings to inform your 2025. Write down three commitments to take forward into the new year.

Okay. Let’s get into the second part here. The second part here is reflecting forward into 2025. So this is where we’re, we’re dreaming up a possible emerging future. We don’t know what it’s going to be. Right. And so part of the act here is to be able to come in and realize that there’s going to be a noisy, busy world that you enter into in 2025.

But this is a moment where you can tune into yourself. Where you could have a remembering that resilience building, uh, leadership practice, like all of these things are a longterm game and those longterm games start at moments of these reflection points, right?

So with that, we’re reflecting forward into 2025. First question: what are your intentions here? When you take a look at the reflections, we’ve just done. What’s even one intention that you’re going to lift and carry forward into 2025. Is it a statement, a word, an image?

A mantra of some sort, a statement, a story?

Can you bring one intention into 2025?

Now let’s get intentional about the practice of learning and growth here. Yeah.

We’re going to use, uh, the eco cycle also known as adaptive cycle, also just seen as a, an infinity loop or a sideways figure eight folks. It’s just a framing to be able to consciously reflect on what you’ve learned in 2024 and how that’s going to shape, how you intend to shape, your 2025. And what you’re going to let go of.

So, if you can draw a sideways figure eight, where you can see it, um, in the, uh, um, Uh, reflective journal. We’re going to talk through this as a framing and I’ll give you verbal prompts here. And again, remember to pause this at any time, if this is something that you’re working on and I’m going too fast and I’m not going to put the pauses in.

Right. So over to you to pause when you feel it’s useful.

So, um, on that. Um, Uh, again, it’s a sideways figure eight that you’re drawing on a sheet of paper. Again, otherwise known as the Panarchy cycle adaptive cycle eco cycle. It goes by very simple, um, Uh, different names for a very similar um, Uh, tool. And up on the top, if you’re looking at your piece of paper up on that top right. This is where we can, uh, I want you to note down what you want to maintain what you want to keep from 2024. This is like, The the things you want to conserve.

This is your old growth forest. The things that are like a part of you. Not that are so new or like seedlings, like this is stuff that that’s a part of me and I’m maintaining it. I’m going to just keep nourishing it. You know, there are there patterns that I’m keeping stories I’m telling myself that I’m keeping, um, uh, situations in my life that I’m keeping whatever it is, what is going on for you from 2024 to 2025 that you want to maintain? There are established and this is what you want to maintain.

What does that look like for you start capturing that in this, in this upper right quadrant.

And then when you’re ready, come down and around to the bottom, right underneath it, right at the bottom of that, of that right side underneath that figure eight. And in this sort of bottom quadrant the question here is what do you, you know, as you reflect on 2024 coming into 2025, what do you want to actively let go of here?

What do you want to deconstruct and compost, what do you want to release? What do you want to unlearn or say no to. What do you want to take into your creative destruction mode and just say no more. What does that look like? What are things you want to release? And these aren’t, some people get into the tendency that these are the bad parts of me.

No, that’s not our paradigm here, folks. We’re in the paradigm of these are things that no longer serve me, or these are things that I no longer want to nourish and maintain and conserve. I may be good at it. I mean, be trite and say like an Excel spreadsheet. I may be good at it, but I am. I’m creatively destroying the story that I’m a great Excel sheet user. Whatever it might be. The point is, is that here and in order to bring new things into our world, right?

We have this ending cycle of things that we want to release and let go of. So it creates the fertile soil from the composting. So that new opportunity, possibility, things that have been knocking at our door for years, that they can get a little bit more attention. So in this quadrant, what are you saying no to? What are you letting go of? What are you putting in the compost bin? What are you unlearning? Releasing? What are you actively putting in the creative destruction zone? Let’s start noting that down.

And then we’re going to keep coming up. We’re going to come up in through the middle of that figure eight, figure eight up into that left quadrant. And here it’s about sprinkling the new seeds. Right. This is, this is looking at what is it that I want to start embracing? What do I want to cultivate here?

What, what seeds do I want to sprinkle? Um, no matter how delicate or, um, what they look. I might not even know what the seed is for. Right. It’s it’s, I’ve got these seeds. I’m sprinkling them into the soil.

I want possibility here. I don’t know what’s going to take, or what’s not. But what is it in my world that I want to just sprinkle in to the fertile soil of my life? What does that look like here?

And then we’re going to come down and around to that bottom left-hand quadrant folks. And this is where we see seeds that we’ve sprinkled, um, from before that have just gotten a little bit more roots. You know, maybe the, yeah, it’s popped up through the soil a bit and there’s even a leaf for two, just reaching for the sun. Right.

These, this is a place of what I want to grow. What do I want? What do I want to make space for? What. What roots do I want to grow deeper? Um, this is a place of tending to what is, what is that for? What do I want to make space for? What do I want? I see some seeds that didn’t make it through. Right.

But these ones have. Have popped through the soil a bit. What do I want to give some attention to? Give a little bit more of my energy to? What does that look like? What am I making space for two grow here? Capture that for yourself. What does that look like? As you look into 2025, dream that up.

And then we’re going to go through this again. Right with that energy of that infinity loop. We’re going to come up through the middle and look at what we had put up in that upper right quadrant of what you want to conserve. Is there, is there anything else you want to put in there? Is there, is there something in there? That is more like, Ooh.

When I think about it, I actually, I want to put it in one of the other quadrants. What does that look like? Just, just do a review of that. You might want to ask yourself as well as there are there things that I’m conserving? That I’m just being pretty rigid about, or have patterns about that really, I need to bring that into the letting go phase. Right.

Maybe there are. Some things here that I’m, um, I’m avoiding. And not bringing into that releasing stage. Possibly.

So reviewing that quadrant, which then of course brings us down and around to look at that bottom right quadrant to say, oh yeah. Okay. What else do I want to add here in terms of my releasing, my letting go of. You know, maybe turn the dial up on boundary work, whatever it might be ending cycles. Right. What else is it that I want to put down here? That deserves a place of a little bit more attention to compost, right? To let go of.

And once you’ve reviewed that up and through the middle, up into that, that left hand quadrant to wear around what new seeds you want to sew, maybe there’s something there. And when you come down and around that, that left side. Start contemplating about who, where might I get stuck with these seeds that I’m sprinkling? Or where am I stuck with seeds that I’ve sprinkled in the past that I want to bring to growth. Where what’s gotten stuck here? Or where am I fearful here? There’s some, some good prompts here around seeds that you’ve sprinkled that

why, why aren’t they in growth? Where, where’d they go?

Or maybe there are some seeds that you sprinkled that started germinating that you actually want to put in creative destruction. Right. Okay. Okay. But again, here on that left side, reviewing that and reviewing what it is you want to tend to and to grow. And remember that that takes energy things don’t grow on their own. They take your intention and our attention.

Yeah.

Take a moment review the whole thing. What, what you’ve drawn, what you’ve played ,with how it’s come out.

Now. Take a moment as you’re reviewing it. Look at what you’ve drawn and ask yourself if there’s anything missing. Um, you might want to create layers of these like one for, from, for my work one for my family, when one for my inner development or, or you might like if you’ve, if you’ve written a bunch in a bunch of different places or you might theme certain things, if you’re really getting into it or. Uh, you might just have five words here and there.

I mean, it’s all great, but just, I want you to address any gaps that you feel drawn to fill, right.

And I’d like you to either just below what you’ve drawn or, or there’s a space in the in the reflective journal. Um, find a space to reflect on just what comes up for you when you’re, when you’re reviewing this, like this is you having a conversation with yourself about what you want to keep in your life, what you want to let go of. What you want to sprinkle into possibility and what you want to actively tend to and grow. So when you look at what and reflect on what you’ve, you’ve captured. What’s what’s coming up for you in terms of emotions? What’s coming up for you in terms of stories you’re telling yourself? What’s missing from this story?

What energy are you getting from this story?

Take a look and just to address any of these things.

Then I want you to come over. And another prompt here is I want you to hold yourself with some intention by, by choosing a stance or a quality about how you want to hold yourself with your intention for 2025. What’s the stance you want to hold? Like you’re looking at you know, from that eco cycle eco cycle, you’re looking at. You know what, what you want to conserve and let go of and tend to and grow. And you have this intention that you’ve created, that you want to bring in into 2025 with you.

What’s the stance you want to hold? Is it ease? Is it power? Is it humility? Is it humor? What, how are you going to describe, what is that intention? What is that stance? How do you want to hold yourself with your intention? What is the stance? And once you capture that, I want you to use your intention and your stance. Kind of as, as, as touchstones as you move into the new year. So, how are you going to capture this for yourself? Is it words on a piece of paper?

Is it making a little drawing for yourself? Is it, uh, writing on your bathroom mirror, I don’t know. Just take a moment and convert this intention and this stance into some kind of touchstone for yourself, so it can move with you into the new year.

And now, we’re just coming to the end of our reflection time together, folks. And here’s where we want to move into forwarding any action. Right. So you’ve gathered learnings and intentions and commitments. So, what are you going to do now? I want you to get clear about what you want to do now with whatever you’ve garnered here. What you want to do now by the end of the week. And remember, this can be like, I want to make an awesome hot chocolate. I don’t know. Like, whatever it is. Uh, to, to, to sip on while I create a drawing of my touchstones, like it can be something really intricate. It can be, I want to call a friend and let them know what I’ve done. And to have some witness, it can be anything.

It can be I want to practice a new storyline for myself. It can be, I want to email 50 people. I don’t know. Right. Whatever it is. Capture what you’re going to do now in these three spaces, by the end of the week, by the end of next week, I will. What. Over the next month I will. What. By the end of this season I will. What.

So, what will you do now by the end of next week? Over the next month? By the end of this season?

Okay. Wonderful job. Take time. Sit with your reflections. Breathe it in. Wipe the sweat off the brow. That was work. Use this journal as an artifact to look back, uh, on, on your journey, uh, beautifully, boldly and lovingly, into 2025. Leadership is a practice. It is a noisy world. People will tug at you in all ways and tell you what you should do and do that.

And so on. What you’ve done is you’ve given yourself the gift to center in to yourself. Radical act in and of itself to, to tune into you. To do the inner development that’s required. To hold the integrity, the intention and the conscious choice of how you are responding, navigating and plotting your path.

Leadership as a practice, stay with that practice folks.

Thanks all. I’m Saralyn you can find me at holonleadership.org. I walk alongside you as you practice your leadership.