How is 2016?

The new year is upon us. Reality sets in. The festive mood of Christmas is now a part of the past deposited in our memory and now we brace ourselves for the credit card statements to come and the challenges we need to face as we prepare ourselves for the business or work life ahead of us.

Time to reflect before we miss the beauty of the moment, has the past year been good? Or has 2016 been extremely challenging?

On a personal note, last year has been one of the most productive years of my life, yet it has set the foundation for an even more productive new year.

When asked how I did last year, my quick and immediate answer was: “Doing very well thank you. Simply doing more of the same thing and doing a lot more different things this year, Lord willing of course.”

If last year was good for you then you need to reflect and think on these:

1. What made it a good year?

2. What were the things I did right?

3. And if it is possible to do even better, how may I do it and what would be my game plan?

Times of introspection would be very good for us to figure out the things we need to do again in order to preserve or even promote the good results we had last year to similar or even greater outcome this year.

And if last year has not been a very good one, then the more you need to take the time to think and reflect on things by asking ourselves these questions:

1. Why was last year not a good year?

2. What and how did things happen that prevented last year from being a good year?

3. How should I improve?

Now this is a critical question we need to ask and evaluate: What were the mistakes I did and how can I make sure that next time will not be similar to the last time?

Mistakes are part and parcel of our growing process. We cannot miss it. We need to face and learn from it. As a matter of fact, today, most of the strengths we acquired became so because they were lessons we learned and improved on from the past mistakes we have made in life.

So let us attack the topic of mistakes in a deeper way. We constantly make mistakes. The question is: “Are the mistakes covering the minor or the major things that matter in life?”

 When mistakes deal with the minor things in life we tend to laugh at it because they can be cute and funny. Things like wearing socks that did not match in our hurry, taking the wrong turn disobeying our navigational tool while driving, and so we laugh at those mistakes and they become a part of our story telling process during dinner or party conversations.

But our life and work gets critically affected when we make mistakes in the things that matter most in our life like careers, businesses, personal finances and relationships. And when we do make mistakes in this area, we keep quiet. We do not want people to know. We think they are very embarrassing and painful when we talk about them. Sometimes in our attempt to avoid the pain, we just ignore, dismiss, and worst, deny they were actually mistakes.

Some would even attribute them to bad luck, forgetting that the initial new year forecast of the fortune tellers last year was that it would be the “Year of the Fire-Monkey,” a year that would generally be good for business. I remember guesting in a popular early TV program to give my views when that was their theme at the start of last year. Others provide a more scientific explanation that it because of the economy and the political situation.

When we simply attribute mistakes to forces beyond our control and then dismiss them without taking the time to reflect on it, then chances are you would find the coming year another difficult year, because you have not owned up to your mistakes and that is not a good thing.

Take these few days not only to clean out your closets or write down your resolutions, but also to really, seriously list down the things you did that should not be repeated this year.

Ask the people you love and trust to help you point out the things you need to improve. And do not shoot them for telling you what you need to hear that would be good for you.

The famous icon of martial arts Bruce Lee said: “Mistakes are always forgivable. If one has the courage to admit them.”

Author Robert Fripp says succinctly: “There are no mistakes, save one: the failure to learn from a mistake.”

I have made them, perhaps you have too. This is the best time to list them down and learn from them and make this year a better one.

(Start the next year strong and start the next year right. Rizza Mantaring, Hidilyn Diaz, Jodi Sta. Maria, Carlo Ople, Randell Tiongson and Francis Kong will share lessons on how to achieve peak performance. Attend this one-day seminar entitled Power Up for Peak Performance! on Jan. 20, 2017 at Samsung Hall SM Aura Premier. For tickets reservation contact April at +63928-559-1798 or Michael +63916-187-1506)