If you feel like this year slipped through your fingers, you’re not alone.

Those of you wondering, What did I even do this year? I’m the same person, doing the same stuff I was doing back in January — that’s actually not true. But it’s hard to measure progress without specific data. Life moves pretty fast, as my Gen X-ers and elder millennials know, which means it’s easy to forget the small victories and big milestones that made your year so much more meaningful than you realize.

P.S. If you’re new here, I’m Amy, a corporate speaker, marketing consultant, journalist and USA TODAY bestselling author of The Setback Cycle. (Want to work with me? Shoot me a note here.)

So what’s the best way of gathering data to measure our annual progress? Giovanna Ventola shared a fantastic method during a workshop I did for her Rhize community last week: every December, she reviews the meetings on her calendar, going month by month, and highlights the things she’s proud of.

Another idea, this one shared by Jen Glantz in her Monday Pick Me Up newsletter, is to open your camera roll in month view and scroll through your photos. Each image tells a story—moments of joy, connection, happiness, whatever was going on behind the scenes in those photos —all revealing progress you may have overlooked.

No matter how you measure your year (in daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee...) from January to today, in what you collected from calendars, photos, journals, or even texts (where’s the group chat “Unwrapped” feature? 👀) I guarantee you’ll discover so much more progress than you initially thought.

We could also measure our year in, wait for it —- setbacks!

What were your top 2-3 setbacks? How did you get through them? What did it teach you about yourself, your values, your path forward, who you want to become?

Obviously I think there’s so much to be learned from dissecting our setbacks, which is why I've designed a reflection prompt that aligns our setbacks alongside our highlights.

Transformation happens through challenges faced, skills sharpened, relationships deepened, and seeds planted. So celebrate those wins, big and small, and step into the new year with gratitude for how far you’ve come.

I've made this reflection template free in honor of my gratitude for all of you. I hope it will help you close out 2024 and clarify your vision for 2025. Make a copy of this Google doc and customize it as you like.

Here’s a snapshot of mine, starting with my top three setbacks:

1. I did not hit my revenue goals. I set those goals at the end of last year, based on the revenue I was bringing in during Fall 2023. What I’ve learned since then is never to forecast based on your busy season. Fall is a big time for marketers to spend money, and in January, there’s usually a dip. Summer tends to be another slow period. In 2025, I’ll be forecasting my revenue with these dips in mind.
2. My attempt at group coaching failed. I was excited to try out career advisory circles - aka coaching at a lower cost, but you all want 1x1 attention, so in 2025 I'll continue helping individuals find clarity on their career path and regain motivation within their current roles or help them find new ones.
3. I had a friendship setback. This was a surprise! The Embrace phase of this one really, really sucked. I was eventually able to let it go, and now I can see the clear signs I was ignoring leading up to the demise. I really needed to turn up the volume on Rhoda (IYKYK) for this one in order to move past it.

When we look back at our year, how are we measuring success outside of dollars, promotions, job titles and all that jazz? To me, it comes down to answering these three questions:

Have I acted with integrity?

Am I extremely proud of the work I’ve done?

Did I maintain good relationships with the people I care about (clients, collaborators, family and friends?)

Across all three, at the end of 2024, my answer is a resounding, confident, HELL YES.

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And now for the year’s highlights:

In 2024, I…

…ran my business for the first full calendar year without an additional full time salary.

…got to build a flexible schedule that included picking up my daughter from school 2x per week, spending more time with her than I ever thought possible when I was tied to a full-time job.

…continued to work with incredible partners like The Community Preservation Corporation, Gwen Whiting, Sadie Lincoln and others who I can’t share publicly because I honor my NDAs ;)

…spoke at amazing companies like Google, Meta, Samsung, KeyBank, Royal Bank of Canada and more.

…sat on panels with brilliant people at conferences and events like Mom 2.0, United Women in Business, Luminary's Building While Flying, The University of Maryland Women's Conference and others.

...started Moms Rage Fight Club (a major highlight of Q4!)

…delivered a TEDx talk (and crashed the White House correspondents dinner afterwards!)

But honestly, 2024 will always be the year I became a freaking USA Today bestselling author. That whole period of my life still feels like a dream and I sometimes can’t even believe it happened. Thanks to all of you, The Setback Cycle sat on that list for multiple weeks in a row, got a ton of attention from morning shows, daytime talk shows and podcasts, was included in countless roundups and editor’s picks, and after peeking at my first royalties statement last week it looks like I actually will make some money from this baby, which is just wild.

It’s still unbelievable to me what a success this was and that is all thanks to this community who supported me throughout the entire journey. Every single one of you was instrumental in helping me reach this point and for that, I am eternally grateful. So, thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart, for making this year one of the absolute best ones yet.

2025, you’ve got a lot to live up to.

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In the meantime, here’s what I’m:

Melinda Gates, who is using her money to encourage more women to work in emerging tech fields, like AI where gender bias is strong and the input of women is so desperately needed.

​That I was there for the heyday the East Village’s “Little India,” an homage to the once-culturally rich neighborhood now waning as so many independent-owned businesses succumb to rising rents and Covid-era setbacks they never fully recovered from.

The beauty brand that has cycled through their fair share of setbacks. Here’s how Glossier got their glow back.​

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This will be my last newsletter of 2024. I’ll be back in your inboxes the first week of January. Until then, I am wishing you all a safe, healthy, relaxing, restorative, happy and joyful holiday.

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Cheers,

Amy

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