The Mid-Year Life Review: A Simple Guide to Resetting Your Second Half

Article Summary: 

Most people sail through the middle of the year without ever checking whether their life is actually on track. This post shows you how to do a mid-year life review that’s both clarifying and fun, with creative angles that go way beyond goal-tracking.

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Are you having a good year so far? How can you set yourself up for a successful second half of the year? One of my favorite things to do is to look for the question behind the question. In this case, it’s something like this:

Are you crafting a good life—a life you’ll be grateful for?
What needs to change to get you back on track?

Most people do performance reviews at work, but few do life reviews and mid-year life reviews. Why not check in on how your life is actually going while you have time to course-correct?

A mid-year life review gives you clarity on how things are going. It helps you spot patterns, revealing what’s helping you thrive and what’s not. Most importantly, it sets you up for action so you can finish the year well.

If you’re resistant to the idea of doing one, it may be because you suspect something is wrong and you’re hesitant to address it. Do you have goals that you haven’t achieved yet?. Obstacles that got in your way? Fair enough. Even so, isn’t it better to take a real, clear look at where things stand?

With the World Cup now captivating billions of fans around the globe, it’s noteworthy that one of the most pivotal events in every match is halftime. That’s when players and coaches step into the locker room to regroup and talk about key factors:

What’s working?
What’s not?
What needs to change?
What’s our plan for the second half?

Now it’s your own halftime. I invite you to pause, reflect, and decide what changes you’d like to make.

 

The Benefits of Doing a Mid-Year Life Review

Why do this? A mid-year life review gives you clarity. It’s a chance to step away from the day-to-day swirl and see how things are really going. It snaps you out of drifting mode so you can start steering your life again. If you’re feeling stuck, it can be a nudge that gets you moving again.

The mid-year life review is also a chance to reconnect with what matters and double-down on it. The process can reignite your motivation to pursue your top priorities while letting you celebrate progress and reflect on what you’re grateful for.

A good review doesn’t just look backward. It helps you look ahead and turn insight into action, so you move into the rest of the year with focus and momentum.

 

How to Conduct a Mid-Year Life Review

How does this work? It’s simpler than you might think.

First, find a peaceful place where you can focus without getting pulled away. Bonus points for a spot that inspires you and that takes you out of your usual surroundings.

Give yourself real time: an hour or two, or half a day at most. Do it in one sitting or break it into chunks, but don’t rush it.

The linchpin? Be brutally honest.

“If you want to be successful, you must respect one rule:
Never lie to yourself.”
-Paolo Coelho, Brazilian novelist

By digging deep and getting to the essence of things, you’ll invite true transformation.

Note: Choose three or four of the eight items below. (1) You don’t have to do them all. Go with the ones that call to you.

 

1. Review Your Trajectory, Not Your Goals

So many review templates focus almost exclusively on goal achievement. That’s fine, but it misses where your current path is likely to take you. Ask yourself:

On my current path, where would the current trajectory of my life take me by December?
Am I heading toward a good destination that calls to me?
Or am I just moving efficiently in the wrong direction?
Am I just helping someone else get to where they want to go?

 

2. Measure Alignment, Not Productivity

Instead of simply looking at how much you’ve accomplished, ask yourself the following:

Am I becoming the person I want to become?
Does my schedule reflect my priorities?
Is my calendar aligned with my values?
Does my life have a sense of purpose and bring me deeper fulfillment?
Is there a good fit between who I am and how I’m living and working?

(See my article, “The Power of Authentic Alignment in Your Life.”)

 

3. Take Stock of Your Energy, Not Just Your Time

Too often, we focus on time management and miss the essential role that energy plays in our lives. Ask the following:

What has given me the most energy so far this year?
And what has drained it the most?

The answers to those questions hold clues about how you should rearrange your time and priorities for the rest of the year. (See also the classic Harvard Business Review article, “Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time.”)

 

4. Look for Signs of Drift, Not Just Progress

Life rarely falls apart overnight. Instead, it tends to drift, like you’re out on the ocean being moved by the wind and waves. Ask yourself:

Am I letting my health slip?
Am I letting my relationships with my spouse or partner, my family, or my friends slip away?
Am I drifting away from my core values?
Is joy seeping out of my life?

 

5. Look for Quiet Wins, Not Just Obvious Ones

It’s common to celebrate big things like raises, promotions, new homes, graduations, weddings, and anniversaries. Fair enough. But sometimes that makes us miss the other meaningful things that are going on. Ask yourself:

Have I established healthier boundaries and become more comfortable saying no?
Have I grown in patience?
Am I calmer under pressure?
When life knocked me down, did I bounce back well?
Am I more willing to ask for help instead of trying to do everything myself?

 

6. Identify Your Trap Theme

Sometimes we’re so caught up in looking at goals and progress that we end up missing the things that are holding us back from the things we want most. What are the traps of living that are inhibiting your happiness, quality of life, and fulfillment? Look at the list below and ask yourself:

Which of these traps has held me back the most this year?
Which trap(s) have I conquered recently—or made the most progress on this year so far?

Avoidance Blaming Catastrophizing Comparing Complacency Conforming Disconnection Drifting

Ego Fear Indecision Excessive materialism Negative self-talk Not moving on Numbing Outer-driven living

Overthinking Overwork Perfectionism Postponing Self-deception Self-doubt Settling Thinking it’s too late

 

7. Focus on Subtraction, Not Addition

When it comes to life and work reviews, it’s easy to fall into the trap of only generating new ideas and action items—of only adding to your plate. The problem: your plate may already be pretty full, if not overfull. Ask yourself:

What should I stop doing?
What should I do less of?

This is essential because it frees up your time and energy for the most important things.

 

8. Do the Review Together, Not Alone

It’s fine for you to do this mid-year life review process solo, but it’s far more powerful with a partner. Find someone you trust (a spouse or partner, close friend, mentor, coach, or small group) and share your review with them. Even better: swap reviews and talk them through together. Bonus: It’s bound to deepen your relationship. Plus, two heads are better than one. You can brainstorm together, cheer each other on, catch hidden patterns, and keep each other on track.

 

Conclusion

The year isn’t over. It’s only halftime. There’s still a full half left to play. You get to decide how it goes.

Take a little time to reflect. Have fun and be creative with it. And be brutally honest. Then get back out there on the pitch and make things happen. It can make a huge difference.

Wishing you well with it—and let me know if I can help.
–Gregg

 

Tools for You

• Traps Test (Common Traps of Living) to help you identify what’s getting in the way of your happiness and quality of life.
• Quality of Life Assessment so you can discover your strongest areas and the areas that need work, then act accordingly.
• Crafting Your Life & Work (my signature online course) to help you design your next chapter and create a life you love

 

Related Articles

• “Why You Should Do an Annual Life Review—And How”
• “How to Do an Annual Life Review: 7 Questions”
• “Are You Drifting through Life?”
• “How to Break Bad Habits and Create Good Ones”
• “Renewing Yourself Amidst the Chaos”
• “The Power of Taking Full Responsibility for Your Life”
• “The Power of Authentic Alignment in Your Life”

 

Postscript: Inspirations on Doing a Mid-Year Life Review

• “The unexamined life is not worth living.” -Socrates, ancient Greek philosopher
• “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” -Margaret J. Wheatley, writer and teacher
• “Before forging head-first into the future, take time to reflect on the past.” -Fadeka Adegbuyi, writer and content strategist
• “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” -Peter Drucker, consultant and author

(1) If you want to do a more conventional mid-year life review, you can use the same format and contents that make up a good annual life review while just changing the time period. There are different options for that, of course, but in summary here are the ones that I recommend and use:

1. Highlights: What were the highlights of this (past year/past six months)?
2. Challenges: What were the top challenges from this (past year/past six months)?
3. Habits: Which habits are helping me thrive, and which are holding me back?
4. Aspirations: What are my top aspirations for next year?
5. Gratitudes: What am I most grateful for from this (past year/past six months)?
6. Take-Aways: What are my top take-aways from this review process?
7. Top Focus: What will be my top focus for the coming (year/six month)?

But sometimes, it’s good to shake things up. By coming at your mid-year life review from a different perspective vantage point, you may be able to engage different parts of your brain and unearth hidden insights.

 

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Gregg Vanourek is a writer, teacher, and TEDx speaker on personal development and leadership. He is co-author of three books, including LIFE Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives (a manifesto for living with purpose and passion, co-authored with Christopher Gergen) and Triple Crown Leadership: Building Excellent, Ethical, and Enduring Organizations (a winner of the International Book Awards, co-authored with his father, Bob Vanourek). He has worked for market-leading ventures and given talks or workshops in 8 countries. Check out his Crafting Your Life & Work online course or get his monthly newsletter. If you found value in this article, please forward it to a friend. Every little bit helps!