The importance of taking annual stock " Contisystems

We all know how often we make vows, promises and plans for the new year when we celebrate New Year's Eve. We invariably feel the need to do something different, to pursue a certain goal or dream.

Well, how many of us find ourselves, year after year, with desires, dreams or plans, which are passed on from New Year's Eve to New Year's Eve, from toast to toast, from raisin to raisin... And why don't we fulfill them? Why do we continue to aspire and the new year doesn't bring us the long-awaited result?

Well, that's why I'm writing this text to you as a reflection and a challenge.

In all the plans we make in our lives, whether personal or professional, we must always ensure that we balance ambition with feasibility, that we make plans, that we set goals, that we structure concrete actions. Let's see. How can we want to buy a car in the new year if we haven't defined that we'll set aside a certain amount each month, or that we'll go ahead and take out a loan, which we've already made sure has a monthly payment we can afford?

The end-of-year review is exactly what we need to improve, to fine-tune our action plans and to ensure that we make our dreams come true. It's with an end-of-year review that we realize: what we wanted, what came true, what we did, what had the desired result, what we thought, what we actually managed to put into action...

So how do I take stock? Where do I start? How will it lead me to fulfill the wishes that I will ask for once again in the raisins or in the toast, on the occasion of 2022?

Our suggestion is that we start by listing what we wanted in a table, recording what we achieved or obtained, and identifying why (not just the failures, but also what we succeeded at, because if it worked well in one respect, we can even replicate it in others). Then, when we realize that we haven't saved enough, or that an unexpected expense has come up, or that we've had a family problem, or that Covid has put a strain on our lives... we can assess whether we want to stick to that goal next year, or whether we haven't thought it through and haven't invested much in achieving it because our priorities and goals have changed.

Once we've identified the aspects we want to keep, we'll figure out how to overcome the obstacle that prevented us from achieving them in the previous year and define an action plan with tasks (e.g. put €10 aside every month in a piggy bank), intermediate goals (e.g. manage to have €60 saved in June), and ways of controlling the achievement (e.g. on the last day of each month, count up to validate how much money we already have and whether we have time off for a tighter month, or if we're short of money and have to use our vacation allowance).

This way, by monitoring all the variables that occur, we always know what's getting in the way and we can think of strategies to overcome it, either in advance, if we've already anticipated any expenses for a specific month (for the example I gave earlier), or in the moment, if something comes up that we hadn't considered. But the secret of balance is this: having control over what we do and what we aspire to.

The same applies to the hugs we realize we've missed giving, the phone calls we feel have been less frequent, or the volunteering we've been putting off and want to do so much...

If we don't analyze, we don't know, and we can't change...