As we welcome a new year, it is a great time to reflect on 2012, and think about setting intentions for 2013. This week I have invited a valued friend and colleague, Debby Magnuson, VP of Talent Management with CPI Twin Cities, to be my guest contributor to Workplace Wisdom. Her firm and Pathfinders are both partners in Career Partners International, a premiere provider of talent management solutions. Debby has written a terrific article about “Evaluating Your Personal Portfolio” and I am pleased to share it with my Workplace Wisdom readers, with her permission of course.

The Personal Portfolio can be a great tool to help evaluate how to make 2013 satisfying and abundant in what you want most in your life. I first wrote about a Personal Portfolio with my co-authors Erica Whitlinger and James Gambone in the Refirement Workbook almost a decade ago. It’s a timeless idea and a structure that continues to be useful for many of my clients, and I use it as a year-end best practice in my own life too.

Think of your work life as a stock portfolio (you could also do this for your personal life, health, finances, etc.). First, what are the assets in this portfolio? Make a list of:

1. Work strengths, starting with your talents (those gifts you were born with) as well as skills you have acquired through study and practice.
2. Tangible assets, such as education, knowledge and expertise, your current job, and other key financial or physical holdings. Yes, that includes your health.
3. Intangible assets such as the great people in your life (your boss, co-workers, family, friends and other colleagues) as well as your positive character traits and beliefs.

Make notes about your assets as you list them. How valuable are they in your work life? What makes them so valuable?

Next, assess the liabilities in your work life portfolio. What is holding you back? Make a separate list of:

1. Any tangible or intangible negatives that you see in yourself at work. What events, traits or negative beliefs have held you back in the past year?
2. Unhelpful or unhealthy relationships that you consider harmful to your work life.

Make notes about your liabilities as you list them. What makes them harmful? What control do you have over these liabilities? Are you sure? Challenge your thinking and remember: if your happiness and success is dependent on someone else changing who they are or what they do, you are in trouble!After each liability, list one thing you can do to limit its impact on your life. One small step, one day at a time, can make a huge difference.

Evaluate your portfolio and choose your “blue chips”. These are your top 3 strengths, the very best of you. What part of yourself — your relationships, your expertise, your work ethic, etc., — were you using in 2012 when you were at your best? Most likely these are the same strengths you’ve used throughout your life to succeed. Celebrate these blue chip strengths and turn them loose in 2013!