3 Things You Should Do Before Logging Off for 2021.
I get it- the end of year can get chaotic. You are trying to juggle last minute work priorities, with holiday events, family gatherings, maybe even a sick kid. Unfortunately what this usually means is that you put your own career development on the back burner as you struggle to get your work commitments wrapped up for the year. Here are 3 things I recommend making time for before you log off of work for the new year.
Evaluate Your Performance
For quite a few companies year end literally means fiscal year end, and you will be going over your results against your objectives anyways. If for some reason your fiscal year end doesn’t align with the start of the new year, use this still as an opportunity to update those objectives while they are fresh in your mind. Make sure as your writing down how you performed you answer a few questions; what was the result ($ saved, specific key performance metrics), how did you get the result (here is where maybe if you didn’t hit the exact metric you can at least build a case of what you did do to work towards that metric). While going through them not only helps you see where you performed well, it also allows you to see where you could improve. Reach out to others for feedback on your performance. Take note of your strengths and areas of opportunities. You may want to consider working some of those opportunity areas into your development plan next year.
Update your Resume
I would bet majority of people have not updated their resume since the last time they searched for a job. Hear me out though, if every year you updated your resume with key successes while it was fresh in your mind, you would never have to scramble when you do need to apply for that next role. Plus you most likely just evaluated yourself against your objectives anyway so you already have all those facts like $ saved, KPIs, etc. right in front of you. While your at it- go on to LinkedIn and update your profile as well.
Clean up
Why wait until the new year to get organized. Wouldn’t it be so much better to come back in the new year with a clean desk, organized files, and a clear list of priorities to tackle when you log back in? So make cleaning up your last work task in 2021. You’ll thank yourself when you log back on in 2022.