WHY SLOWING DOWN SPEEDS THINGS UP. Ten Questions to Ask Yourself to Make The Next Year Successful

It’s almost the end of the year. For me personally, I love this time of the year; it's the time when I take a breather, look back and see how the year has gone. It’s a time for personal reflection and an opportunity to look at my career to assess what went well and what I want to do differently moving forward.

And the truth is how you show up in life is how you show up as a leader so taking the time be clear on what went well and what you would like to change can be done in tandem.  

Here are some questions to get you started.

Five Personal Questions to Ask Yourself as You Start the New Year.

1.    What were my wins this past year?

People tend to overlook their successes and focus on their failures. In our non-stop, 24-7 world, it’s common to move on to the next big thing, but celebrating your wins is important not only for you, but it turns out, it makes you a better leader.

2.    What were my most meaningful moments?

Take some time to think this through. What brought you the most joy? Why?

This helps re-live the moments that were really meaningful to you and what to bring more of next year.

3.    Where did I spend my time and energy? 

As you review the year, where did you spend your time and on what? Did this reflect what matters to you? Did your physical fitness, relationships, or hobbies suffer? As you look to next year, what do you want to spend more energy on? 

4.    What did I find challenging or disappointing?

When you look at the year overall, what don’t you want to repeat in the New Year? What will you leave behind?

5.    What did I learn? – We learn from our successes and failures. Take a moment to write down what you learned in the past year. Use your journal to document life lessons that you or others could benefit from in the future.

Now that you’ve reflected on you, let’s take a look at your company. 

 Once your business is established and running well, it’s easy to let things continue to run as they are. However, it's actually time to plan again! This is the perfect time to do a deep dive on your business’ current state to see how well the business is performing and what opportunities exist.

Five Questions to Assess Business Progress

1.    Where did I make my money?

A good starting point is to evaluate what you actually do - your core activities, the products that you make, or services that you provide. 

·      Which of your services are the most successful? 

·      In what way are they succeeding?

·      Which aren't performing as planned and why?

·      Are your services in alignment with your ideal client? 

2.    What issues keep coming up in my business?

Knowing what’s working and what isn’t will help you to define what areas can be improved upon in the future. If your going to scale, it’s time to look at any internal issues that are holding your business back.

·      What issues keep recurring? 

·      What can be streamlined? 

·      What can you let go of?

3.    Where do I need more support?

When you’re growing your business; you need help. Now that you know what issues need to be addressed, it’s time to leverage your team to help move your business forward.  

·      What is the current state of your team? 

·      Do you have who you need to move your business forward? 

·      Are they all in alignment with your vision?

4.    What are my numbers?

Without money in the bank; you cannot grow. When it comes to your business' success, sound financial and management systems (or paying someone to do it for you) is essential.

·      Financial matters – measure your actual revenue and expenses against planned. How did you do? What was your profit margin?

·      Cash flow – How often are you looking at this?

·      Working capital - have your requirements changed? 

·      Growth - do you have plans in place to adapt your financing to accommodate your needs and growth?

5. What is my next opportunity?

Consider doing a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. This looks at the strengths and weaknesses of your business' capabilities and any opportunities and threats to your business. Once you've identified all of these, you can assess how to capitalise on your strengths, minimise the effects of your weaknesses, make the most of any opportunities and reduce the impact of any threats.

·      Address what your business strengths are- can these be capitalized?

·      Address what your business opportunities are- can these be exploited?

·      Address what your weaknesses are- can these be minimized?

·      Address what your potential threats are- can these impacts be reduced?

Evaluating what worked well and what didn’t will make all the difference in whether you’re able to multiply your success in your next chapter.

Take some time to ask yourself these questions and set yourself up for the most epic year yet!