Each year before making any New Year's resolutions and writing down personal goals, I like to look back at the months behind us. It's a great time to review what we've accomplished, and what areas in both our personal and professional lives still need work. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting our daily lives and work, 2021 is no different. As we near the end of 2021, I've been looking back at this past year to see where my team and I have succeeded, and where we can make improvements.

First, I look inward as the president of Roofing & More. In my professional life, a big focus of mine has been my leadership style. I've written before that I can often be my own company's biggest challenge, and that remains true today. This past year, I chose to work on myself both as a leader who provides the vision to the company and as a manager who takes care of the team. How can I do better, or even step aside so I don’t hold my team back?

Second, I look at my company as a whole. As the leader, I am not the most important person at the company. My team helps me stick to our processes, accomplish goals and keep customers satisfied. Now is also a great time to review my team’s successes with them – what they’ve accomplished, what they’ve learned and how it is going to affect our year ahead.     

Lastly, I look at my personal life, because it impacts how I’m feeling in my professional life. This year, how have I done as a partner, a father and as a grandfather? Have I been taking care of myself so I can show up to work and perform to the best of my abilities? Or am I working too hard to where it is affecting my life at home? I can use this information to plan, taking necessary breaks even if it doesn’t feel like the right time because work is so busy. With a better work-life balance, I can be a better me for myself and those around me.

Keep Moving Forward

There is a great quote from Søren Kierkegaard that I always keep in mind around this time of year, which states, "Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward." To me, this means that we can look behind us to learn and improve, using that information to live life ahead to the fullest we can. No matter how the pandemic has affected us, or if we didn’t meet professional or personal goals, we must keep moving forward to make life better for ourselves and our families.