Finish the year strong
2025 is almost up but there’s still time to make progress, what will you focus on?
As we race to the end of the year I find myself reflecting on 2025. Have I spent my year wisely? Have I achieved all I set out to do?
As a person with many endeavors, it can be useful to step back and look at the whole picture. Often I find myself questioning: have I lived a balanced life? With all my projects and activities its hard to find enough time to focus on everything. There’s a constant pull to be focusing on something else or working on a different task. And then there’s the matter of working on too much at once. It can be disheartening to shelf an exciting project but sometimes priorities need to be chosen and boundaries made.
I find the best way to have a balanced life is to have weeks or months of focusing on each part of life, one by one. Each area can be addressed and improved with the goal of not needing to work on it again until everywhere else has been looked at. That way, by the end of the year everything has been worked on. The year is balanced but not necessarily day to day. Some weeks are full of work and some weeks are full of play.
With two months left in the year, now is the time to identify what needs attention and what to take a break on. This task is best done by first dividing your life into categories and evaluating each part individually. I like to use the Miracle Morning Level 10 life categories, but personalize them a bit. My categories are relationships (friends, family and partner), uni, health, finances, mind (which includes spiritual and mental health practices), personal development, guiding (contribution - volunteer work), environment, and fun.
When I look back on the year I think I’ve done really well at health, uni and guiding categories. These are areas I work on multiple times per week if not every day. I am very satisfied with the progress I’ve made towards these parts of my life this year. I do not need to focus on these areas. That doesn’t mean that I forget those areas or abandon any good habits I’ve set in place. I just don’t need to put much thought into these categories and can run on autopilot. For the rest of the year I really need to work on my environment, fun (which is perfect for the holidays), and relationships. I feel like these areas of my life have attainable goals - especially considering the holidays are coming up.
I know most people make it to the end of the year burnt out and barely make their way through December. Quite often this is me. But not this year. I plan to have a lively and spirited journey on the road to 2026.
~Polymath Jess