We’re about to do something REALLY POWERFUL here at Team Conservation Careers… and we’re challenging YOU to do the same!

An annual journal.

As we enter a new year – it’s an exciting time to look back and plan ahead. It might just change your life.

Here’s how it works:

Set aside an hour for personal reflection, within the next four days. We usually do this RIGHT NOW, often with a favourite drink in hand 🙂

Grab a notebook. If you use the same one each year, it can build up year on year.

Complete these sections (or adapt them for you):

• Holidays, Trips & Travel – Where have you been this year, near and far?
• Music, Film, Books & Podcasts – What have you been learning, listening to, watching and reading?
• Health – How’s your physical and mental health? How is your fitness? How are your energy levels? How are you feeling emotionally?
• Happiness – How happy are you in your life and career? For example, you can mark each out of 10, and briefly describe why you chose each number.
• Best Bits – What were the highlights (and why)? It’s really useful to learn from these, so you can plan to have more next year!
• Worst Bits – What were the lowlights? Reflecting helps you to avoid them next time (where you can).
• Goals for the year ahead – Bringing it all together, how will you ensure that the next year could be your best year ever? For example, you could make a few, simple 3-month goals that inspire you.

Bonus: If you’ve done this annual journal before, take a moment to read previous entries and look for patterns. Seeing year-on-year trends can help you make some big changes (like quitting jobs that weren’t a good fit).

We’d love to hear your career goals for 2024. Head over to LinkedIn, Facebook, X or Instagram, comment on our career challenge posts, and we’ll enjoy reading them!

Most of all, enjoy the process – it might just change your life!

Careers Advice, Professional Development