As the year winds down, it’s natural to think about what needs to change. What didn’t get done? Which projects fell behind? What problems kept coming up? What would you like to do differently next year?

Those questions have their place. But before you start making a list of everything that needs to be fixed, there’s another question worth asking: What went right this year?

Challenging yourself to keep growing and improving can be a good thing, but before you set your sights on where you want to go next year, consider where you are now and the things you accomplished to get here. Taking time to reflect on what went right this year offers a useful perspective — and may reveal lessons worth carrying into the new year.

What Became Easier?

Think back to the beginning of the year. What tasks or responsibilities feel more manageable now than they did then?

Maybe you learned a new system or mastered a process that once seemed complicated. You may have gotten better at managing your calendar, communicating with customers or clients, delegating work or handling a particular responsibility.

Those improvements don’t always feel significant while they’re happening. Often, we simply adjust and move on. But if something that used to take an hour now takes you 20 minutes, that’s a success worth recognizing. So is knowing how to handle a situation that would have left you scrambling a year ago.

Not every accomplishment comes with a certificate or a line on a performance review, but acknowledging your own progress can be just as beneficial. 

What Problems Did You Solve?

Some of the year’s biggest accomplishments may be easy to overlook, because they’re dressed up as problems you no longer have.

From tedious tasks to persistent misunderstandings, once a bothersome problem is solved, it can be easy to forget how much of your time, attention and mental energy it used to consume. Take a moment to identify a few of those problems, then ask yourself what actually solved them.

Was it a new tool? A change in expectations? Better questions? Reflecting on what worked may be useful the next time a similar problem appears.

Which Relationships Grew Stronger?

Professional accomplishments aren’t measured only in projects completed or numbers achieved. Relationships with colleagues, customers and community members matter just as much as sales or revenue.

Think about the people you’ve worked with this year. Did you develop a stronger relationship with a colleague? Did you meet someone who became an important professional connection? Were you involved in mentorship, or did you simply get to know the people on your team a little better?

Like any good relationship, a strong professional connection is more likely to develop over time than all at once. Answering a question, offering help, following through on a promise, sharing credit or taking the time to listen — these seemingly small moments add up to something larger over time.

The relationships you formed or strengthened this year may not appear on any year-end reports, but they can have a lasting effect on how work gets done.

What Did You Learn?

Not every lesson comes from success. In fact, some of the most useful things we learn in life come from situations that didn’t go according to plan.

Maybe you discovered that a particular approach doesn’t work. Maybe you learned to ask more questions before starting a project, communicate earlier when something is going wrong or allow yourself more time than you think you’ll need.

Lessons learned from lived experience may not always feel like accomplishments, but you’ll remember them longer than any takeaway from a class or seminar.

Instead of looking solely at what you achieved this year, consider what you learned. What do you know now that you didn’t know in January? That wisdom represents growth, even if it doesn’t fit neatly into a goal-setting spreadsheet.

What Should You Keep Doing?

Once you’ve identified some of the things that went right this year, look for patterns.

Maybe the projects that went particularly well had something in common. Maybe your best work happened when you had fewer competing priorities. Perhaps a particular habit — better planning, clearer communication or simply making time to focus — consistently made things easier. Those observations can be more useful than a generic list of resolutions.

Before you ask, “What should I start doing next year?” ask yourself, “What is already working that I want to continue?” Sometimes moving forward means doing more of what’s already working.

What Surprised You?

Finally, think about the things that happened this year that you didn’t expect. Maybe an unexpected opportunity turned into one of your most rewarding projects. Maybe a challenge led to an improvement you wouldn’t have made otherwise, or a chance encounter grew into a valuable professional connection.

Not everything of consequence can be planned in advance. Looking back at the unexpected parts of the past year can remind us to allow for flexibility in the next one. Goals and plans are useful, but so is the ability to recognize — and seize — a fleeting opportunity.

Take the Good with You

Looking back doesn’t mean pretending everything went perfectly. Every year comes with its share of frustrations and missed opportunities, but focusing on those at the expense of your accomplishments is an exercise in pessimism.

Before you close the book on this year, take a few minutes to recognize what worked. Think about what became easier, which problems you solved, who helped you along the way, what you learned and which habits or practices are worth carrying forward.

Then, when you’re ready to start thinking about what comes next, you’ll have more than a list of things to fix. You’ll have a better understanding of what you already do well — and a foundation you can build on in the year ahead.