Miscellaneous Monday: Tools of Reflection

[Andrew _Zim_ Zimmerman _Appfire_]

Happy Monday and happy December, fellow Community Members! 🎄

Each December, I find myself quite reflective as I navigate through the final weeks of the year. I think about goals reached, areas where I fell short, standout moments from the past 11 months, ways I’ve changed, etc. There are so many different topics to reflect on and so many different methods by which one can reflect. 🧐🙇

So, for this Misc Monday topic, I’m keen to hear what tools and methods you all use to reflect. Professionally. Personally. Academically. Whatever you want to share!

Do you read through a journal that you’ve maintained all year round? Do you use a Confluence template, or perhaps AI-generated prompts, to help you reflect? What questions do you ask yourself? Where do you store these thoughts? 💭

Or, do you keep it less structured and more fluid, and just keep a handwritten log of reflections whenever they hit? ✏️

I’d love to know how you reflect and any new methods, tools, or techniques you’re planning to integrate into your reflection process this year.

Have a great week ahead!

P.S. - Tomorrow (Tues, Dec 3) is Giving Tuesday this year. As you reflect on the past year, I also encourage you to seek out ways to give back in the days ahead 🙏 If you need some ideas, consider attending the Global Week of Good Virtual Volunteer Fair.

[Amanda Barber]

I love this topic! Unfortunately, this year has felt more about surviving rather than thriving in my personal life. However, I think it's time to set some short-term, attainable goals again as I head into the new year. 

One of my favorite ways to track goals is a habit-tracking app. I have reminders set throughout the day to help me stick to my goals. I currently try to drink 8 cups of water, get outside for 10+ minutes a day, walk 10k steps, stretch, and read for 10 minutes.

I also really like using something like this to track my daily workouts:

I think these movement and wellness goals will be easy to stick with this year, but I'd definitely like to figure out what to work on professionally and how best to track those goals!

[Sandra Franchetto]

Thanks for ideas. Love that Atlassian products can be used.

Also thank you for the Fair link. I'm already planning 2025 and definitely want to find more ways to give back. 

One tip - change wording of 'where I fell short' to 'why didn't I reach my goal in this area?' - and it isn't necessarily a failure but instead you may not want that goal anymore or maybe something else was more important.  Hope this helps a little.

Have a great December.

[John Funk]

I tend to reflect along the way - on a weekly or monthly basis - to see what I have learned about certain topics and plan better for what's next. Doing it on a yearly basis feels too waterfallish, and I like to be more agile.  haha

[Tomislav Tobijas _Koios_]

I tend to track things in a lot of detail 😅. For almost everything, I use my personal Jira instance, organizing tasks into specific projects. Whether it’s work-related or personal—like house or family tasks—I usually focus on one big 'project' at a time. That means I don’t do 'retrospectives' often, but since I track dates on issues (and sometimes even log time), I guess it’s easy to look back and see progress on specific things 👀

[Daria Kulikova_GitProtect_io]

Very nice topic! :) Over the past few years, I’ve realized that sticking to short-term goals—on a monthly or even weekly basis—works better for me. Life is so unpredictable; you never know what might go wrong! :)

For these personal short-term goals, I usually use a simple mobile calendar or just jot my thoughts down on a piece of paper. For the last three years, my motto has been: if there’s an idea, there should be an action! :) 

[Andy Gladstone]

While I use Confluence and Trello extensively to track work as it is getting done, I am old-school and keep notebooks and journals of everything that I set out to do and get done. I review my notebooks regularly and have specific notations for idea and item statuses. Everything starts as black ink on a lined white page. As things get done, they are highlighted in yellow. If they are no longer relevant they get a single strikethrough. At least once a month I review my notebook and move all incomplete items to a new "what's on my plat page". I then go back to all of the pages with incomplete items that have been recorded and put a large upper case circled D on the top right of each page and highlight it so I know that page no longer needs to be reviewed. 

I use apps like Strava and Zwift to track my exercise goal progress throughout the year and to set goals for the coming year. 

I find that constantly revisiting my goals and ideas helps them remain evolving objectives rather than singular goals set a specific place in time. 

[Susan Waldrip]

Hi @Andrew _Zim_ Zimmerman _Appfire_ , very timely topic! For work, I use JSM Task tickets with priorities that help me focus on what's needed now. I review them all at least twice a week to ensure priorities haven't changed, and then consult my end-of-day notes (pen and paper notebook) to see where I left off with a task if I didn't finish it the day before. In my personal life, I spend a little time each Sunday night thinking about the upcoming week, what's "due" on my current task list (handwritten notes of tasks) and update it as needed. I usually reference that list during lunch breaks or just after work to see what I can get done that evening (if anything) and on Fridays I identify what I need/want to do on the weekend days -- but ensure a good mix of "chores", fun, and relaxation!

[Barbara Szczesniak]

This year, I am reflecting with the 6 new people that joined my Christmas list: 2 new great nieces and 2 weddings that brought 2 nephews-in-law, 1 step great niece, and 1 step great nephew. 6 additions and no losses—that's a wonderful year!

[Mariano Tallarico _Appricity_]

GREETINGS COMMUNITY! Excellent Monday. What a great topic for these stages of the year in which we find ourselves Consultation, based on personal experience. When you make a personal plan (for those who like to plan long term). Before the end of the year, that is, in December with a view to the following year?, or already started the year?