Let’s talk about how to reflect on what went well this year and what could improve next year. We’ll be really intentional with our questions and thoughtful with our answers. Get a pen and paper because answering some important questions will be really valuable to your growth.

Take a minute to think about the times where you felt motivated, inspired, and encouraged in your business. What were you doing? Were you presenting in front of an audience? Were you creating content? Were you writing your manifesto? What were you doing when you felt you were fully energized and excited. How can you do more of that in 2019? My friend, the time is now to start making those plans.

What didn’t work for you this year? Did you miss certain targets? Why? Were you so busy in your business that your family suffered for it? Let’s change that. Were you frazzled every day because you weren’t sure what you should be focusing your efforts on? We can change that too. What were the things that caused you pain points? Write them out. Think about what needs to be done in order to ensure they don’t cause you pain in 2019.

Be intentional with how you plan your year! You must carve out some time to think strategically about what you want your year to look like. What goals are you working for? Is your current set of to-do’s in line with your Mission, Vision and Values? If not, you CAN and must refocus, re-posture yourself, your business, so that you’re fulfilling your purpose.

The time is now to plan this out, folks.

Here are few solutions for a few of the biggest pain points from entrepreneurs:

“I feel like I’m always spinning my wheels and I’m never sure I’m doing the right things to move the needle.” - Issue: Your daily activities are not in line with your larger goals.

Solution: Take a significant amount of time to set very intentional goals. Use the weekend if you have to, but set aside at least 2 full days to get very clear on what is important to you in terms of achievement. Think this through because all of your actions and activity will result from this. Use our SMART Goal Workbook to ask you the right questions and build an actionable plan.

2. I never get enough work done during the day so I’m multi-tasking instead of being fully present with my family in the evenings. Issue: Lack of boundaries is causing work to creep into your personal life.

Solution: As an entrepreneur you’re bound to blend personal with professional. Everyone does it, but there are healthy ways of doing this (like being excited to show your friends your new big idea), and unhealthy ways of doing this (like being glued to your Smartphone or email while your supposed to be spending quality time with your kids).

Here’s what I recommend:

The night before, write down the top five things that absolutely must get done, no matter what. By the end of the day, the next day, you will have accomplished those five things. Now you know exactly what your focus needs to be on when you wake up in the morning and you can hit the ground running. Whatever doesn’t get done isn't urgent and it can wait until the following day because it wasn’t on the list.

Getting clear about what worked really well and what didn’t work out well will get you in the mindset of improvement. Creativity thrives in this mindset! Give yourself grace, care, and time to reflect and make the best use of your time!