Procrastinators have a great can-do, will-do attitude!
They know they CAN-do something....
...and/but, well, they also know that they WILL-do it only later! :P
On that note, let me begin, without any further ado, about what I'd like to talk about in this post.
Well, December often tends to be that time of the year when we reflect (or at least can/should) about the year that's about to end - in IT/agile-terms, it's time to do what is known as a retrospective - an honest assessment and evaluation of what went well, what didn't, and what could have been done better.
Of course, one can surely agrees and understands that this need not be an activity reserved for sometime around Dec 31 only (since any process or assessment towards improvement can is always most welcome, any time of the year, and not dependent on only a particular date of the calendar).
However, since this is a good time when people are free, when things are typically rounding off everywhere for the year, the time frame of December/mid-December onward does present a fit case for a transparent, sincere, and thorough analysis.
There are 5 questions that I have (only begun) trying to check myself on:
1. What all did I do right in the last 12 months? Are there any decisions/actions can I be proud (or atleast happy) about?
2. What all did I learn (or do better) this year as compared to similar situations from last year?
3. Did I harm anyone (hopefully, never) by any chance? Anything from me during the year that I should regret or be ashamed about?
4. What would I like to take as a learning from this year, that I didn't do thus year but would like to improve upon and incorporate henceforth in the coming year?
5. And of course, my personal favorite: Did I make someone feel better? Was I useful to someone in any way? Did I bring a smile to anyone?
If my honest answers can be on the right side of at least most of these questions, then I know I'm doing alright and am on the right track.
As the year ends, I would like to present you these questions as my year-end thoughts and sharing. I hope you too can benefit from them by making them your parameters and benchmarks to assess yourself. Hopefully, these pointers will not only become useful guiding lights in ensuring that we can always assess where we stand but can also serve as a talisman to help us take the right decisions in case of any dilemmas in future.
Go well, everyone! :)
