Before you close the book on 2019 – or get distracted by your holiday shopping list – take some time to reflect on the year. As the holidays approach, there’s a tendency to pack it up and move on. Resist that impulse!

At PRC, we are all about learning. And we know that learning from the past – the good, the bad and the ugly – is invaluable. Think about what you did well and what challenged you. Think about your team, and what you accomplished together. Don’t skip over the projects that didn’t go smoothly. As painful as it is, you’ll learn more from your mistakes than you will from easy victories.

Here are a few powerful reasons to look back, before you look forward:

• Shorten the learning curve. Look to the past to learn how to move more efficiently. Streamline the process, cut out some expenses and take short-cuts that don’t affect the outcome.
• Don’t repeat mistakes. This is the obvious one. Everyone makes mistakes – it’s how we know we’re taking risks and growing. Our stumbles make us stronger – but only if we learn from them. Set aside your ego and focus on continuous improvement.
• Predict the future better. The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. You can predict patterns, cycles and trends by looking at the past.
• Build on your successes. Maybe your part in a project was moderately successful. By an honest, thoughtful analysis of your role, you can make your contribution a slam dunk success in the future.
• Learn from other people’s mistakes. Don’t just focus on your own missteps. If you’re doing a complete analysis of your team’s efforts, there should be plenty of learning to go around. Model the good choices and learn from the mistakes. It doesn’t need to be your experience for you to benefit from awareness, knowledge, skills and learning.

You can’t change the past, but you can learn from it. So don’t look back with frustration or disappointment about what did or didn’t happen – look back with an eye toward learning. And don’t forget to have a wonderful holiday season and New Year, from all your friends at PRC!