Annual Review

This post is by Jen Shultz.

In business, employees receive an annual review. Performance is generally categorized into a few sections of importance based on the business and scored on some metric chosen by the company. There are many successes in our lives not covered by what a business would think is important, but what if- and just keep reading please- we looked at our year in review with a similar frame? 

HelloMornings uses a three pronged approach to cover the areas where we as participants can frame our goals. Those prongs are: God, Plan, Move. If you have been following along with this blog for a while, you will see that we actively approach so many things in our lives with these three prongs in mind because of the connection between body, mind, and spirit. 

This month, we are discussing the topic of Review and Preview. I want to talk about reviewing within two of those three prongs- God and Plan. What if we did this for ourselves with our intentions or resolutions? What if we actively decided on those things instead of arbitrarily deciding to pick a goal that seemed like it would make our year better? How would that change our view of what we accomplished?

So, what if we DID look at our progress for 2023 in any of these three prongs? What does that look like to you and are you accomplishing your goals set? For the first few years I led an accountability group, I asked the ladies to set goals for the challenge in each of these groups and then to weekly break those up into smaller goals. That is how we conquer big things, right… small bites. In this process, I realized that I began to only focus on that six week period and not on my overall goals and how those smaller weekly or even monthly things helped me accomplish the bigger, stretch goals. I also had no tangible metric for looking back to see all that I had accomplished. 

Once I realized this, I wanted to pick a prong and create a format that allowed me the chance to review all that had been accomplished in my year and what better prong than the God prong to take it a step further and see what HE had accomplished in my year. That is where my prayer journal was born. Taken from the idea of writing down a good thing when it happened and putting it in a jar to read on New Year’s Eve, I started writing down prayer requests I had received in a monthly list- who requested, when requested, and what they needed prayer coverage for. I prayed diligently over that list and followed up with the individuals who requested. Each time a prayer had been answered, I highlighted the request. Before each new month, I followed up and continued the requests that had not yet been answered and so on. By the time New Year’s Eve hit, I had 12 months of answered prayers highlighted to review. Truly, it is a beautiful sight.

So, maybe you use this idea for your 2024 God prong- for Bible verses memorized, seeds sown, prayer, or days in the Word. Maybe you use it for a Move or Plan goal in the new year. Maybe doing just one of those allows you to be focused on the success of your goals, big picture, so you are moving toward those all year long. Whatever it is used for, know that being able to look back at something you can hold in your hands to show how God has moved in your life is more awe inspiring than I would have ever suspected. He is still in the business of miracles, friends. I have pages and pages of highlighted requests that prove just that! 

Jen is a small town, Oklahoma girl married to a superhero. Together, they are raising a family on second chances, shiplap, and a shoestring. She is a firm believer in grace, organization, and efficiency. She finds great satisfaction in taking broken items and giving them new life, likely because that is exactly what God did for her. She over uses the word shine, exclamation points, and emojis. Jen calls her children her greatest accomplishments. A natural born encourager and armchair warrior, she is learning to redefine her mission field and make the most of each day she is given. She has recently been promoted from breast cancer warrior to breast cancer survivor. She’s chronically ill and chronically positive- not necessarily in that order. She is learning to practice perseverance over perfection and longs for the day she gets to see her grandparents and Jesus’ face. Until then, she is just looking for Grace in the Grind.