It’s the end of June, which means we’re halfway through the year. How are those New Year’s resolutions going?
Fallen by the wayside? I hear you!
But it’s not too late to get back on track. In fact, now is the perfect time for a mid-year review.
That’s why I was excited to attend Tiago Forte’s mid-year review last week.
Tiago is one of the foremost thinkers on personal productivity, and his approach combines practical goal-setting with mindfulness techniques to help you reflect on the past six months and plan for the next six.
Whether you’re crushing your goals or feeling stuck, in this piece I’ll share Tiago’s framework to reset and refocus for the second half of the year.
Prepping for your mid-year review
Block off at least an hour for this exercise and do the following before you begin:
- Pull up your goals from the beginning of the year
- Grab pen/paper or your favorite digital notetaking tool
- Remove any distractions (e.g., notifications, kids, noise)
From here, settle in with your favorite beverage and let me take you through your mid-year review in 3 steps – past, present, and future.
1. Past
“The future is meaningless without the past,” said Tiago when introducing the first exercise.
You’ll take 5-10 minutes to reabsorb into your brain what has happened in the past 6 months. This is a very “right brain” exercise. All you’re doing is immersing yourself in your memories.
Here are places to look:
- Calendar (try “list view” to get a quick overview)
- Photos (if you have hundreds, maybe just go through favorites)
- Notes (sort your notetaking app by date created)
You can choose all or any one of them. Personally, I speed-read through my weekly reviews that contain everything I’ve done in the first half of 2024 in a condensed format.
Once the time is up, journal on the following questions:
- What surprised you?
- What 3 things are you most grateful for from the past 6 months? (Notice if some of those are not on your list of goals, but still deeply meaningful.)
- What are 3 words that represent the past 6 months for you?
The goal of this exercise is to cultivate a mindset of gratitude before moving on to the next step.
It’s almost impossible not to feel grateful at this point when you look at your life and all the experiences you’ve had.
I’ve learned from coach Joe Hudson that gratitude shifts your focus from “what’s wrong and how can I fix it” to “what’s right and how can I grow it.”
Feeling grateful, you start the next exercise from a place of abundance instead of scarcity.
2. Present
The next exercise connects you with the here and now.
Tiago led us through a guided 5-minute meditation to get in touch with sensations in our bodies. Too often, we approach our life just from the head, often forgetting that there’s wisdom in our bodies (or that we have a body at all that wants to be heard).
If you’re doing this at home, you can simply sit comfortably still for 5 minutes with your eyes closed and pay attention to what you are noticing. This could be…
- Physical body sensations: for example, a tickle in your throat, a cool breeze on your neck, pressure in your lower back
- Emotions: for example, feeling calm, excited, sad, curious, bored, anxious, connected ****
- Thoughts: for example, about what to have for dinner, what’s next on your to-do list, an argument you had yesterday with your partner
From that place of awareness, answer the question “What do you want more of?” from three different parts in your body: your head, your heart, and your gut.
How to do that? Put your attention in this part of your body and wait for an answer to come up from that place (it will). Write down your answers and notice how they differ.
With this new-found awareness, you’re now stepping into the future.
3. Future
In the last exercise, you’ll put your sights on the future.
What are the 3 projects/goals you want to focus on for the next 6 months?
Answer this question from a place of wanting (you got in touch with it during the previous exercise). When thoughts bubble up about what you “should” be doing, what’s realistic or practical, put them aside for the moment.
As you write down your projects/goals, look for physical reactions. If you’re getting goosebumps, your posture or breathing changes, or you’re noticing movements in your gut, these are all signs that you’re on the right track.
Next, Tiago led us through another guided meditation on projecting our future.
Picture yourself at the end of the year. It’s New Year’s Eve and you’ve achieved everything you wanted. How does that feel? Let that sensation sink in for a moment.
Then, notice that you already have that feeling inside of you right now. You’re enough just as you are.
From that place, answer the question: What do you want to change (e.g., a decision, commitment, spending, shift in priority) to make that future come true?
Why you shouldn’t skip your mid-year review
I know it’s too easy to blow past this point in the year and just keep on going. But there’s a lot of value in slowing down for a moment.
I loved how one participant pointed out that by June “reality gets a vote what you’re able to accomplish.”
In January, you’ve crafted a vision for what’s possible. It seemed like the sky is the limit. But at the halfway point, you have some feedback on what you did and can evaluate what works and what to change.
With six more months to go, now’s the time to appreciate what you’ve achieved and course-correct if necessary to create the year you want.
