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The Power of a Personal Inventory
Debriefing Your Year Before Preparing for the Next Will Catapult You into Success
After ever missing and training exercise, United State military forces complete what is called an After Action Review. The goal of these reviews is to capture information about what happened, share important insights from each participant, and to learn and improve for the next encounter or exercise.
What the military has found is that these reviews help give them competitive advantages, encourages creativity and allows them to understand how to plan better. And I think many of us could adopt a similar process as we start thinking ahead to next year and even the next decade.
While I have not served in the military, I have been completing a similar review every year for the last five years. Instead of sticking with the military phrasing, I simply call it my personal inventory. And it is this personal inventory which has helped me to achieve more and more and the years go on.
In a personal inventory, I spend time looking at the previous year. And what I learn from that year helps me plan for the next. And now is the best time to start doing this as we are getting ready to launch into a new decade.
