Before you make all your resolutions and plans for the next year, be sure to spend some time reflecting on the past year. Socrates is credited with saying, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” This means we need to think critically about ourselves while analyzing our behaviors and their results.

What successes and failures did you experience in the past year? Have your relationships improved or become distant over the months? Have you tried any new ventures or challenges that have been rewarding? How have you grown spiritually in the twelve months?

This type of personal scrutiny will help you see areas you need to improve and places you are doing well. They will help you know what to keep doing and what to stop doing in the coming months.

Be sure and take 15 minutes this week and think carefully about the past year. These few moments of reflection can be the fuel you need to make the coming year a time of growth in every arena of your life. Don’t waste the experiences of the past year or the opportunities of the coming year. Please make the most of every year because we get so precious few of them.