2024 - Hit or Miss ?

Was it a successful year? Doesn’t feel successful but was it anyway? I didn’t conquer the world, I didn’t leave my 9-5 and I didn’t launch multiple successful businesses….  Part of me feels a failure… What did I actually achieve?

I left a secure role for a larger promotion in an unfamiliar industry

I passed a professional certification.

I overpaid on my mortgage every month of 2024.

I created a small, really small, really really small rainy day fund.

I visited two new countries.

Managed two quite major illnesses.

Organised a special surprise getaway for my Dads 70th birthday.

Never missed a gym session.

Survived a lads holiday, just!

And many, many more successes throughout 2025.

So, why do I feel like a failure? Why do I feel unsatisfied?

It’s quite simple really…  I have become obsessed with achieving things to the point that I’ve even stopped starting several ideas because I wasn’t convinced it would make me millions….  Millions, ha!!  I was dialling in on the finer details, so obsessively that I started to judge myself on the outcome of future events that I’d not even started, my hypothetical business failures were making me feel down and depressed - even unwell at times and I’d pulled myself away from reality.

The answer.. for me:

Zone out… to simply Zone Out. I took a good few steps back, looked at the bigger picture, pinch, and zoomed out on the screen…  I realised that I hadn’t failed, I’d succeeded in multiple areas but I couldn’t see it until I looked at the wider picture.  Suddenly, simply by looking at all areas with a wider view made me see that I’d actually improved in every area I’d intended to, and even a few bonus areas too.

The lesson in all this – some advice I will take forward, and share with anyone who will listen: lighten up on the self-judgement. It’s true - you really are your own worst enemy.  Learn to sketch out everything (I love scribbling my goals, plans, and aims on paper – old skool, I know!), and then take a big step back, zoom out, and look at it from a distance. Judge it as if a friend was asking you for your opinion.  You can then see it all in a true unbiased fashion. Celebrate your wins, no matter how small. It won’t come naturally - take a breath and give yourself a chance to feel good. Give yourself permission to feel good about what you’ve done and, if something isn’t quite where you want it then fine - let’s go, let’s fix it, improve it, let’s nail it in 2025 but for now… let’s celebrate the wins!