Do you want to set yourself up for success this year?
Last year might not have been the year you hoped for. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t turn things around for yourself and your coaching practice this year. There are things you can start doing right now that will help you prepare for the year ahead and set yourself up for success.
Whenever a new year begins, I always take time to review the year that has just passed. The reason why is because I believe reflecting on the past year helps us to see what we did right, what we can improve, and what we can do to ensure further success throughout the new year.
In this episode of The Mindset Coach podcast, I talk about the importance of reflection and how assessing the previous year can help build a roadmap to success for the new year. I also am very excited to share a brilliant exercise with you to help you review and reflect on the past year and how doing so can help you set the groundwork to ensure you achieve all of your goals this year.
You can listen to this episode of the podcast below or keep reading….
Let’s get into this exercise! I’m going to give you a few questions to help you reflect on the year that has just passed and plan for ultimate success this year.
You’ll need to write your answers down, so grab a pen and your notebook or type your answers as you go on your laptop, phone, or download this helpful resource and use that!
1. What goals did you set for yourself last year?
Thinking back to this time last year, what goals did you want to achieve? It is good to review your goals to see what you accomplished and what things are still a work-in-progress. Write down all of the goals you set for yourself, even the ones you haven’t achieved yet!
2. What did you achieve last year?
Write down everything you achieved last year. Focus on your personal achievements as well as the things you accomplished in terms of your coaching practice. This is an excellent way of seeing the impact you had, and the things you were still able to achieve despite the circumstances. Take your time with this one. Some achievements will come to you straight away, while others may require some extra thought.
3. What achievement are you most proud of?
When you have finished writing your list of achievements, determine which one you are most proud of. Which achievement fills you with the most pride? This achievement is the one that lights you up inside, so draw a big circle around it, and highlight it to make it stands out from the rest.
4. What worked well for you last year?
Reflect on what worked well for you in your coaching business last year. Concentrate on the tasks that seemed easy or effortless. Perhaps you were faced with a complex project that went according to plan. Think back to the things that went really well and write them down.
5. What are the things that didn’t work so well?
On the flip side, the new year is a good time to look back at what didn’t work so well. In business, it is always good to consider what we could change and improve.
This could be any number of things. It might be your processes, customer service, marketing, online presence, time management, or productivity. Whatever it is, reflect on what didn’t go so well and what you could improve on this year.
6. How much revenue did you generate last year?
This one comes in three parts:
- Write down how much revenue you made last year
- Work out how much of that was profit and write that down to
- Write down how much you paid yourself last year
Remember that all of this information is for your eyes only. Nobody else will ever see it, so don’t worry about anyone looking over your shoulder.
7. What has been the highest-selling product or service?
Out of everything you sell within your coaching business, what product or service sold the most? What did people love to buy from you? Was it an online webinar? Or, perhaps it was one of your coaching services that became your best-selling service of the year? Look back and identify what product or service has been the most popular over the last 12 months and write it down.
8. What were the least popular products or services?
You know what product or service sold the most, but what sold the least? What product or service didn’t take off the way you hoped?
9. What do you enjoy delivering?
Ask yourself, what do you most enjoy about your work? This honest reflection will help you establish your favourite parts of the job, and you might find that the most profitable aspects of the business are not the things that necessarily give you joy.
10. What things do you least enjoy?
Flip the coin and write down what you least enjoy about your coaching business. Look at ways that you can make these things more enjoyable or consider outsourcing them. After all, we want to be doing the things that light us up and give us joy. That is why we became coaches in the first place!
11. How many social media followers do you have?
This one is slightly different than the rest because it requires you to do some research. So, head over to your social media accounts and look at the analytics. From there, take a snapshot of how many social media followers you have on each platform. Doing this is useful because it allows you to see your progress as the year continues.
12. How many email subscribers do you have?
Next, take note of how many email subscribers you have. How many people are on your email list? Having this number recorded will act as a benchmark for the year ahead.
13. What is the #1 thing that happened to you this year?
If you’ve had a difficult year, it can be hard to think about all the good things that happened amidst the chaos. However, there must have been some great moments in the last 12 months. Think about the best thing that happened to you in your personal life and your business.
14. Write down the insights you have about yourself or your business
It’s time to tap into your unconscious mind and discover what insights you can gain from it about yourself and your coaching business. Maybe you need some more training, or perhaps you have lots of ideas to implement in your business. Write all of this down. Think about what you can learn from the last 12 months and how you can use those insights to set yourself up for success.
We’ve reached the point in the exercise where it’s time to look ahead and focus on the new year. So, here are a few questions to ask yourself when you’re planning for the year ahead:
1. Who are you as a company?
It may seem like a strange question at first, but I want you to really think about this one. How would you describe your company if it was a person? Try to describe your company as it has a personality. Then, think about what kind of company you want to become in the future.
2. What are the opportunities you want to have this year?
What opportunities do you know already exist? And what do you want to discover in the coming year? Take some time on this one as it is likely to shape a lot of your plans for 2021. For example, maybe you’re looking to enter a new market space, perhaps you want to start a podcast or YouTube channel or run your own retreat.
A good way to identify these opportunities is by thinking about what makes you excited. It’s the start of a new year and the possibilities are endless. Are you developing something new that you’re excited about? Get into that feeling of excitement, harness its energy, and see where it takes you.
3. Finish this sentence: “This is the year that I…”
This is where you can dream big. Whatever your main business goal for 2021 is, put it in this sentence and commit to it. No matter what your ambition, have it in your mind that you’re going to achieve it this year. Maybe you want to launch a new product or service. Or, maybe you want this year to be the year you reach your dream income goal.
4. What key messages do you want to share this year?
As you envision the upcoming year, what are the key messages you want to share with your audience? Keep in mind that the messages you want to share right now may evolve as the year progresses, which is fine. For now, write down the messages you want others to hear.
5. What does success mean to you?
When you think of success, does it paint a picture in your mind? And, how does it make you feel? Success looks different to different people. So, really think about what success means to you and write it down.
Write a letter to yourself
The final step of this entire exercise is to write a letter to your future self. Inside the letter, write down what you’ve achieved this year, the experiences you’ve had, and how you’ve achieved your business goals.
Write it today and tell yourself all the amazing things that will happen to you this year. Then, keep it somewhere safe and open it on the 31st of December next year. And remember, dream BIG.