For all you ‘A type’ business owners out there, how many of you (like me, many times) find yourselves always charging from goal to goal in the pursuit of evermore? You know where this is leading right? The power of taking some time out to ask critical questions and reflect on what ‘has been’ is a very powerful way of making sure the future you are about to create is:
- the future you want, and
- that you are going to go about it in the best way you know how.
I was sitting down with a new client last week, and he told me about his annual ritual of taking a step back, looking at what he’s accomplished, looking at where he is relative to the plan he created and asking the question “Am I going to keep doing this for another year?”. The ‘this’ in his case is his business. While you may or may not be open to the option to ‘stop running your business,’ it’s an empowering notion to consciously realise you have the choice. Yes, there may be consequences, but you still have the choice. More importantly, taking the time to ask reflective questions (hopefully insightful ones), is a healthy practise that the best business owners consistently adopt.
This year, I crafted a list of questions. They are based on some I’ve used previously and are designed to extract from my mind the lessons and best practises I’ve encountered over the past 12 months (or 40yrs for that matter). Knowing if I bring these thoughts forward to my conscious, I can then proactively apply them moving forward. Let me share them with you.
Reflection:
- Looking back over the past 12 months what were the greatest wins for my business?
- What were the actions, relationships or events that led to these wins?
- If I had to bottle this as a recipe, what would be the key ingredients?
- Looking back over the past 12 months what were the greatest wins for my personal life?
- What were the actions, relationships or events that led to these wins?
- If I had to bottle this as a recipe, what would be the key ingredients?
- What were my main points of focus over the past year?
- Given where I am now:
- which of those would I consider to have been worthwhile?
- which were possibly a waste of time?
- What should I have quit sooner?
- In hindsight, what are the signs I might have seen (if I knew what to look for) that could have led me to this decision sooner?
- What should I have put more effort into? How could I have known to do so earlier?
- Looking at all this, what are the biggest lessons of the past year.
- How can I apply them moving forward?
- Who can help me?
- How do I currently see my SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats)
- Is my 3-5yr vision still relevant? What changes do I want to make?
- Looking at my 3-5 year vision, what are my one-year goals.
I find it best to ponder these over a glass of wine – it tends to loosen my creativity ????
Enjoy the questions and more importantly be sure to apply what you learn from answering them…and if you need someone to bounce those ideas off – we’re always ready. Reach out HERE
