End of the Year Reflection: A Guided Review for Dietitians

As the year draws to a close, it's the perfect time to engage in a thoughtful self-evaluation of your dietitian career journey and personal well-being.

Reflecting on the past year can provide valuable insights, help you celebrate achievements, identify areas for growth, and set intentions for the coming year.

While I personally don’t set New Year’s Resolutions, I do like conducting an end-of-the-year reflection so that I can identify and take ownership of how I would like my next year to go.

Chances are, if you’re reading blogs on my career coaching site, you’re likely looking for a new job or thinking about a new job in 2024. An end-of-the-year review can help you map out your steps to achieve this goal!

In this blog post, we'll explore journal prompt questions designed to guide you through a meaningful end-of-year review reflection.

This exercise is intended to be completed over several days or even weeks. Do not feel pressured to have it all done before 2024! I personally set aside a few mornings to work on these reflections.

Reflect on Career Milestones.

Reflecting on your specific career milestones can help you determine if you are growing in the ways you would like in your career. While I recommend reflecting at least quarterly, it’s never too late to start this practice.

Here are some questions that you can ask yourself about your career accomplishments over the past year.

 What professional achievements or milestones have you reached this year?

• Did you receive a title advancement?

• Did you hit specific performance metrics or achieve all of your job requirements?

• Did you present to a team on an area of expertise?

 How have you contributed to the well-being of your clients or community?

• These can be specific outcomes such as “improved IBS symptoms by 80%” or “increased participation in school lunch by 32%”.

• This could also be more general accomplishments or client testimonials.

• You could also include the total number of people served or any other way that you measure impact.

 Have you acquired any new skills or certifications that enhanced your professional expertise?

• This could be an internal certification or a board certification.

• Or perhaps you learned a new program or tool at your job.

What are you most proud of this year?

• Is there an accomplishment that stands out this year?

• If there is not an accomplishment that you’re proud of, how does this feel? Do you wish you had more opportunities or are you happy with your current role?

As you reflect on your career milestones, take time to consider how you feel about your milestones. Did you achieve what you set out to achieve? Or did you fall short? It’s important to consider whether you felt supported in reaching these milestones or whether external factors prevented you from growing. We’ll look into this more in the next sections.

Identify your Challenges & Areas of Growth.

When reflecting on your past year, some of the more challenging moments will likely stand out. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to reflect on what those challenges have taught you. We can learn something from every difficult situation.

It’s also important to recognize whether these challenges will be ongoing or circumstantial (perhaps due to staffing issues or miscommunication).

• What challenges did you face in your career this year, and how did you overcome them?

• Will these challenges be ongoing due to your work environment? If so, how does that make you feel?

• Reflect on a situation where you stepped out of your comfort zone. What did you learn from that experience?

• In what ways have you grown as a dietitian over the past year?

• If you feel like you haven’t experienced growth as a dietitian, how does this feel? Are you happy with the current opportunities provided by your job?

While many of us will feel most satisfied in our jobs when we continue to grow and learn, there are absolutely seasons of life when a stable and consistent job is exactly what we need. There aren’t correct or incorrect answers here- this is your own reflection to help you determine if there are changes you want to make in the new year.

Collect Feedback and Testimonials.

Your end-of-the-year review is a great time to document any major client wins or success stories. This can include client testimonials, positive feedback from co-workers, feedback provided on your performance evaluation, or any grants or awards received.

 Here are a few questions to consider:

•  Recall a particularly impactful client or customer success story. How did it make you feel?

  • If you haven’t already, consider collecting all of your testimonials and client feedback in one folder.

• What positive feedback have you received from your boss or co-workers this year?

  • This can be formal written feedback or verbal feedback.

• What feedback did you receive in your performance evaluation?

  • If your performance evaluations are kept in an internal platform, make sure that you download or copy this information to your own files. You’ll lose access to these evaluations when you leave a company.

• What were your biggest wins and highlights this past year? And how do these align with the feedback that you have received from peers or clients?

 If you’re like many fellow dietitians, this year might have been really rough. If you don’t have answers to all of the above questions, it’s absolutely okay. If you’re experiencing burnout or are in a job that’s a bad fit, it may be hard to think of big wins. Instead, focus on any mini-wins or small moments of joy and satisfaction.

How do you feel about your work-life balance?

One of the top values I hear from fellow dietitians is the importance of work-life balance. If this is a value for you, reflect on how you managed work-life balance over the past year.

Here are a few questions to consider:

• Does your current role allow you to achieve a work-life balance? What does work-life balance look like for you?

• How well did you manage your work-life balance this year?

• Reflect on moments when you prioritized self-care. What activities brought you joy and relaxation?

• Were there instances where you felt overwhelmed, and what strategies did you use to cope?

• Are you happy with your current state of health?

  • Does your work life interfere with achieving your health goals? Would having a different job change this?

A lot of clients that I worked with over the past year are experiencing burn-out and work-life balance is an area that really suffered. Some clients are working typical 8-hour days, but the mental load or stress of their job is so exhausting that they don’t have energy to focus on self-care.

Other clients mentioned working really long days because they are short-staffed and this makes it challenging to exercise, eat healthy or spend time with friends and family.

Reflect on your own work-life balance and determine if there are any changes you would like to see in the upcoming year.

Document Your Professional Development.

As a registered dietitian, you likely have been working on your professional development portfolio and CEUs. As you reflect on the learning opportunities that you pursued this year, consider their value and how you applied the knowledge to your practice.

If you can’t remember any of the education that was provided, it may be time to develop a better system for keeping track of what you have learned.

Here are a few questions to consider:

• Evaluate the professional development opportunities you pursued. How did they contribute to your growth?

• Did you attend any conferences, workshops, or training sessions that left a lasting impact on your practice?

• Are you attending professional development opportunities that truly align with where you want to go in your career? Or are you attending events just because you received an email advertising a free event?

When I was a new dietitian, I attended every free webinar and event that came my way. It was a great way to learn about a lot of topics and I also didn’t have the budget for expensive courses. Now that I have been a dietitian for nearly a decade, I am very intentional about the professional development that I pursue. I want to make sure that it aligns with my current career goals.

It’s a great time to reflect on your professional development goals and map out specific courses or competencies you want to focus on in the new year.

Reflect on your Collaborations & Networking.

Over the past few years, networking and collaboration opportunities were limited and many of us fell out of practice (myself included!). As we move into the new year, it’s a great time to reflect on how you would like to collaborate and connect with other healthcare professionals in the new year.

 If you were able to collaborate and network, here are a few questions to consider: 

• Reflect on collaborations with colleagues or other healthcare professionals. What did you learn from these partnerships?

•  How did networking efforts contribute to your professional connections and support system?

•  What types of opportunities feel most meaningful to you?

  • Do you enjoy large conferences? Or smaller, more intimate events? Do you like in-person opportunities or remote options?

If you were unable to network over the past year, here are some questions to consider:

• What are your biggest barriers to networking and collaboration?

• In what ways might networking benefit you?

• What steps could you take in the new year to network?

While research consistently shows that in-person connection and networking build stronger connections, there are still opportunities to network virtually if that is what fits into your current lifestyle. LinkedIn is a great tool to start with, but there are also Facebook groups with specific niches that can be a great place for community as well.

If the word networking makes you cringe, I hear you! Think of networking as a way to build community. It’s not about asking people for a job or other things, it’s about forming a supportive community.

Set aside time for goal setting.

Now that you have reflected on your past year, think about what you might want to change for the upcoming year.

Here are a few things to reflect on before you embark on goal setting.

• Does your end-of-year reflection have a positive tone? A negative tone? A mix?

• Would you be happy or satisfied if your upcoming year went the same as the past year?

• What changes do you need to make to achieve career satisfaction?

Now that you have reflected on your end-of-the-year review, it’s time to set a few goals. As a starting point, consider setting a goal within each career area that we reflected on earlier. The areas of focus are:

• Career Milestones

• Challenges and Growth

• Feedback and Testimonials

• Work-Life Balance

• Professional Development

• Collaborations & Networking

Once you have identified a few goals for the year, ask yourself these questions:

• How do your goals align with your values and aspirations?

• How will you track your progress on these goals?

• What systems of accountability will you need in place?

I recommend writing your goals down and then setting a reminder each month to reflect on your goals. It can be easy to become complacent with our career goals- the day-to-day of work life can be all-consuming and before we know it another year has passed.

Small steps toward your goals can lead to big changes!

Taking the time for an end-of-year review can be a powerful way to gain clarity on your professional journey and overall well-being. By reflecting on the past year's experiences, challenges, and successes, you can set the stage for a fulfilling and purpose-driven career in the year ahead. Happy reflecting!

About the Author

Kelan Sarnoff, MS, RD is a Registered Dietitian with over 10 years of experience in the nutrition realm. She has experience in hiring and recruitment in both the clinical and academic settings. Kelan is passionate about helping dietitians land a job that aligns with their passion, values, and skills. She also believes in raising the pay for all dietitians and empowering dietitians to negotiate for desired compensation.