Since I started my business in 2020, I planned a review every six months. At first, it was because I had so much in my head that I needed to help myself process, distill and prioritise the information so I could somehow focus instead of feeling overwhelmed every month trying to do everything and not really sure what was going to move the needle. It’s quite a rational, organised approach that I can be good at when I feel overwhelmed – I’m the kind of person that needs to just stop and write a to do list and then highlight three of those things to focus on that ladder up to my overall goals.
For example, after a bunch of research I decided my marketing strategy needed to be about building relationships – this is what I am good at and I enjoy. I was avoiding social media at all costs. So, if I needed to build relationships to generate business, one of my priority tasks became to find a networking group that I felt could help me to do that, and then to be consistent in my attendance. I did this in the pandemic and after tens of 121 introductions (persistence over resistance was the mantra…) I was introduced to someone who would go on to be a client – a wonderful working partnership and a significant chunk of my business revenue then, and continues to be now.
Looking backwards to look forwards really worked for me – it’s something that often comes up in my leadership coaching as a tool, to use reflection to generate learnings and to further influence, refine and define leadership style. Reflection is invaluable.
So, every six months, my aim was to take some time to reflect a little on how things had gone and to spend some time prioritising what to focus on and what milestones were important to achieve in the next six months.
It sounds quite simple, and actually I found it quite simple – not always easy, but yes, a simple enough idea and process. What I also realised was that it was a very significant part of my thinking process. I really was able to recognise learnings, celebrate achievements and think through what was important for the next 6 months which meant that half year by half year, I continued to successfully build a business from scratch that gave me more revenue that any job I’d had in my 15+ year corporate career (and I was paid very well), and all of this now working 3.5 days a week.
My six monthly review process has been refined over the past 4 years, and here I share the eight questions that I ask myself and write my reflections on to set me up for the next 6 months. Whether you are reflecting on your business, your leadership style, or yourself, this is an exercise that can generate insights that are within you but that, without some clear space and attention, may stay buried inside you and end up in one of those ‘Ah with hindsight if I’d only thought about it maybe it would have been different…’.
So, treat yourself to some foresight. Settle down with some clear quiet time and without any attachment to the answers, of what might come up, free write or talk through your reflections to the following questions:
What are you celebrating?
What have you learnt?
What have you achieved?
What was challenging?
What do you know now that you didn’t know 6 months ago?
2023 Goals – how are you tracking?
What do you want to focus on for the next 6 months?
How will you ensure you make it happen?
Take some quiet time, give it a go, see what happens. Set yourself up for a stonking 2024!
Want to work with a coach to make it happen? I’d love to talk more, feel free to book in a call and let’s get going.