At the end of every year, I sit down and ask myself a list of questions. Once I answer these questions, I can better plan and set my goals for the coming year.
Reflecting on your business at the end of the year is one of the best practices that you can start for your business. These questions will lead to a more focused and successful yearly goal planning session. I know this because they have for me!
Let’s delve into each question and explore why it’s helpful for you as a business coach or service provider:
What didn’t work this past year?
Identifying what didn’t work allows you to learn from past mistakes and challenges. Don’t beat yourself up over the things that didn’t work instead look at it as an opportunity for growth and improvement in the new year.
Once you understand what didn’t work and why then you can avoid repeating those things in the future. Or if it is something that can’t be avoided you can rethink your strategy or approach regarding that particular task or project.
Maybe you had a project that didn’t go well because you there was poor communication between you and your client. Again, don’t beat yourself up over it. The project is over and now you can reflect and think about what you can do to remedy that for future projects. This could mean that you set a goal for the coming year to create a better follow up and communications system for your projects.
What worked this past year?
It is so important to recognize the successful aspects of your business and take the time to celebrate those wins! Maybe you implemented a new onboarding system for your clients that they raved about. Or maybe you had a successful launch of your new course. Whatever it is acknowledge and honor those wins!
Use this time to reflect back on the goals you set and achieved for the year. Reflect on client wins. Reflect on your own personal and business wins too.
By taking the time to reflect on what worked well in your business you will be able to understand your successes more so that you can replicate those strategies, and build on them in the coming year!
What tasks, projects, collaborations, etc brought me joy?
I want my business to bring me joy! So taking time to reflect on those aspects that brought me joy is super important for me (and you!). In fact, I view this as the most important question on this list.
By asking myself this question in one of my yearly reflections, I was able to realize how much joy I found in web design and it’s what led me to focus more on those services.
Finding joy in your work can be a powerful motivator and it can help you feel more satisfaction with your business overall. So take some time to identify the tasks and projects that bring you joy.
What can I do to bring more of the joy into my business?
This is the big one! Now that you know what brings you joy in your business, how can you get more of it?!
If you can find a way to bring in more of those tasks and projects that bring your joy, you’ll feel more excited and energized about your business.
This is about being intentional and truly creating a business that you love.
Use these questions about joy to help you create your goals and project list for the coming year. For example, once I determined that I wanted more web design projects, I set a goal for 6 web design projects for that year. Then I created a list of tasks I needed to do to help me reach that goal.
When you create your goals around what brings you joy it will really help you stay motivated and productive throughout the year.
What didn’t bring me joy?
Determining aspects of your business that don’t bring you joy is also important. If you are spending time on tasks and projects that make you miserable, then you are not able to give your best to your clients and your business.
You decide what types of tasks and projects you take on and if a certain service doesn’t light you up, then stop offering it! This is what I did! I realized that writing for social media made me miserable, so I stopped offering those services. I also stopped offering calls/pitching services as well. And because I did that I had more room on my calendar for the types of projects I truly enjoyed.
You also want to ask yourself this question when it comes to your own day to day business tasks. Identify those tasks that you dread or that drain your energy. The next question will help you deal with these things.
Can I eliminate or outsource the things that don’t bring me joy?
This question is about taking action and control of your business. Those things we identified above, we are now going to deal with.
Looking at your list of things that don’t bring you joy, ask yourself these two questions:
- Can I eliminate this task completely?
- If I can’t eliminate it, can I outsource it?
An example of something I eliminated from my business was Twitter. I quit on it several years ago because it was toxic and affecting my mental health. I have never been sorry about it. Above, I also mentioned services that I stopped offering because I didn’t enjoy them.
Remember you are in charge! It’s your business and you if you don’t want to do something – don’t!
If it’s something that you absolutely can’t eliminate like say bookkeeping, but you dread it and it overwhelms you, consider outsourcing it. If it’s not it your budget yet, do some research and start creating a plan so that one day you can add it to your budget.
By eliminating or outsourcing those tasks that don’t bring you joy, you’ll free up your time and energy for the aspects of your business that do bring you joy!
I hope you’ll consider adding these 6 questions to your yearly reflection and planning session. You can use these questions any time of the year not just at the end or beginning of the year.
Remember, it’s not just about setting goals but making sure that the goals you set are aligned with what actually makes you happy in your business. And these questions will help you do that. Here’s to a more fulfilling and successful year!
