Year End Review Week 2: Projects

Welcome to week 2 of your Year End Review.  In case you missed week 1, Clients, you can access that blog post here.  

I’ve created a really fun (and free!) workbook to guide you through this year end review process.  You can CLICK HERE  to download your Year End Review Workbook. 

Okay, so this week we’re going to focus on our Projects.  We review our projects from the year so we can get perspective of what was a good fit for us and what types of projects we want to get more of in the future.  So often we are just taking whatever projects show up for us, and running around trying to do our best without ever stopping to reflect on if it is even the type of project we should be doing at all.  

Just because something is a “great” project does not mean it’s a great project for you.  Only you can know that.. And discovering that means slowing down and reflecting on your projects and how and they were or were not a good fit for you.  

I spent years just taking whatever projects came along and trying to do my best without ever considering what was a good fit for me.  It wasn’t until I started doing a review process where I really stepped out of my day-to-day and thought about each of my projects in detail that I began to get a better understanding of what were and were not good fit projects for me. 

That changed everything.  I began seeking out and only taking projects that I knew were a good fit, and I can’t even tell you what a HUGE impact it had on my overall happiness, not to mention work success.  

When you discover what your ideal type of project is and double down on that, you get more projects that are similar, and then you get even better at doing those types of projects - it just builds on itself in an upward spiral of confidence, profitability, and happiness.  

Okay, so let’s begin!

Journaling exercise: Projects

Find a quiet time when you will not be distracted and you can concentrate.  Pull out a journal or notebook and write out your responses to the following prompts:

1. List out all of your projects from the past year (or you can go back as far as you want!)
2. Note their referral source next to each one
3. Rate them in order from most to least favorite

Now Answer these questions:

1. My favorite project this year was:
2. How did I get this project?
3. It was my favorite because:
4. It was a good fit for my personality/services because:
5. Describe the project in detail:
6. My least favorite project this year was:
7. How did I get this project?
8. It was the worst because:
9. It was a bad fit for my personality/services because:
10. Describe the project in detail:
11. Reflecting on my most and least favorite projects from the year, in the future I'd like to focus on this type of project:
12. Ideas for new skills, certifications, continuing education or upleveled services I can provide to make it a no-brainer for clients to hire me for this type of project:
13. These are the projects I'd like to highlight in my portfolio / marketing in order to attract similar projects in the future:
14. Here's what I'd like my portfolio to look like in the future:

Remember, there’s no such thing as a good or bad project.  There’s only a good or bad project for YOU.  Being able to understand and state clearly what your ideal project is will help you in your interview process with potential clients and in your marketing efforts. 

Not only that, but it will also help you state clearly to your network what types of referrals you would like to have.  They will be happy to have this information and it will cut down on your getting a lot of leads that are not a good fit for you. Win!  

So give it a try and I’d love to hear from you on Insta how it goes for you.  You can find me @designersanity. 

Don’t forget to CLICK HERE to download your free Year End Review Workbook. 

It has all the questions in one place to keep you focused.  Having the workbook completed will be a great record of your thoughts to refer back to and keep them top of mind in the coming year, not to mention a great record to look back on of your progress in future years!  

Next week our year end review process will be focusing on our colleagues.  I’ll see you then!