Reflecting Back on 2024: A Celebration of Progress and a Look at Lessons Learned
As entrepreneurs, we’re no strangers to serious mental activity. We make decisions, prepare documents, do calculations, and design products and services all the time. That’s a sh** ton of brainwork.
But, do we reflect?
In everything mentioned above — decision-making, designing, and the like — at what point do we acknowledge and appreciate what we accomplished?
And why is that important?
Not only does intentional reflection of our achievements keep us motivated, but it also undermines the perfectionist bug that constantly makes us feel like our work isn’t good enough.
Reflection isn’t just about checking boxes or reviewing missteps. It’s about using those moments to grow, adapt, and feel proud of your journey — Yes, even the messy bits! It’s a chance to reset your mindset before entering the new year.
Let’s dive deeper into the priceless value of reflection.
Why Reflection Matters
The end of the year has always been a natural time of reflection for me. During my years in non-profit, December meant reviewing our strategies and work plans to report on what was accomplished.
It wasn’t just a requirement, it became a way to celebrate wins and look at how we could grow.
In a fast-paced world like ours, pausing and recognizing progress will help your mindset go from being too future-focused to realizing how much of a kick-ass leader you are NOW.
The emotional benefits of reflection are many:
😮💨 Relief: You feel reassured that you don’t need everything to be perfect to make meaningful progress.
🙌🏼 Encouragement: You’re inspired to take time for reflection without getting bogged down in self-criticism.
🦄 Motivation: You feel renewed energy and direction for 2025.
Remember, reflection is not just a quick recollection of what you achieved. It’s putting aside time and purposefully listing out both large and small wins.
The Value of Small Wins
A lot of us tend to undervalue small wins.
Yes, anyone can do many of the smaller tasks we do every day. Everyone can pick up a paintbrush, too.
But they’re not creating the Mona Lisa! And I’m not saying they should want to, either!
I'm saying that when it comes to long-term success, it’s often less about the difficulty level and more about consistency. Every step counts — even the small ones. Which means every step holds significant value.
If you get stuck in a cycle of doing, never stopping to enjoy the progress you make in your business, then, just like a new painter, you may feel inclined to give up.
If you do stop to learn the value of small wins, you’ll see how this small but mighty practice builds momentum and confidence, which are both necessary to achieve success in your biz.
If I didn’t celebrate progress at every step of the way, I might not have gotten to see the following milestones through in the past year:
✅ Ran my first (EM)Powered Entrepreneur Workshop Series,
✅ Grew the Kick-Ass Leadership Program,
✅ Gained more 1:1 Clients through the "Accountability Kickstart Sessions" and,
✅ Heard from students about their wins.
I often get text messages from my Inbox Reset Training course-takers who are in the middle of cleaning up their inboxes or just got their inbox numbers way down. And those messages make it all worth it.
In fact, the two most rewarding things in my business are seeing my clients’ and my own personal growth. Both come from the recognition of progress and small wins, baby!
Lessons Learned Without the Guilt
I don’t know about you, but it was difficult to break the habit of blaming myself for anything that went wrong in my business projects. It was either a woe is me or, what the f*** is wrong with me? whenever a challenge arose.
The problem with that mindset became clear when I realized that challenges are not only inevitable but necessary for growth. Before long, I learned how to reframe challenges constructively to truly progress as a leader.
When you take a step back during tough situations, you can better reframe challenges as valuable learning moments.
Of course, this in itself can be its own challenge. If at first, you don’t manage to step back after something goes wrong, and instead get frustrated, freak out, or go into a downward spiral, you can learn from that also.
Rather than feeling guilty about spiralling, you learn to give yourself grace by reflecting on your reaction to negatively perceived situations. You can then master how to stop dwelling on challenges and mistakes.
Once you master how to bounce back from challenges, you become a solutions-oriented leader.
More than half the time, imposter syndrome is the main culprit behind our guilt around challenges and mistakes. But you can overcome that, I promise.
A Look Ahead to 2025
A practice of regular self-reflection easily shows us how reviewing our past can set us up to be 10x better in the future.
👑 It’s like the golden ticket of self-leadership!
We now see — through the lens of lessons learned — where we can do better.
We are inspired by both large and small wins — our progress — and motivated to keep going.
We adopt self-reflection as a key tool and necessary practice for long-term growth in our personal lives and in our biz.
All this creates a clearer vision for the next year… but what about turning reflections into action?
My 2025 Workshop Series is designed to help you act on 2024’s lessons learned and guide you in 2025.
Equipped by the confidence gained from your achievements, the (EM)Powered Entrepreneur Workshop Series will help you take charge of your leadership and business growth in the new year.
Over six months, we’ll tackle essential topics like creative goal-setting, self-leadership, resilience, and confidence-building.
Each session provides hands-on strategies, actionable takeaways, and opportunities to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs — all keys for healthy growth in self-leadership and business success.
With a focus on clarity, momentum, and creativity, this series is perfect for anyone ready to ditch overwhelm and lead their business with confidence and purpose in 2025. Sign up for the Workshop here today, and up-level your self-leadership game plan for the new year.
Janic 💜
