I’m a big fan of change. I love mixing it up, keeping myself on my toes and not forcing myself to be the same all of the time. It’s the key to my personal satisfaction. However, there are a few pieces of my business model that truly keep this vehicle of a business moving forward in a positive direction. Things that help me to get clear on what I want and where I’m going. They are my life blood and they aren’t going anywhere. One of these items is my quarterly evaluation.
I do this every, you guessed it… quarter. I also do this with my clients on a regular basis. A quarterly evaluation helps them to vision and dream about the future of their business in an intentional and manageable way. This week I decided that I couldn’t go another week without sharing that process with you. I guess I could have kept it under wraps until you hired me and I walked you through the process, but, well, I don’t want to.
1. Change up the location of your quarterly evaluation.
More and more studies are showing that travel can open up the creative problem solving part of your brain. I try to do my quarterly evaluation in a new place. Whether that’s a quick day trip out of town or just a different coffee shop or a different room in my house. Breathe a bit of new life into your routine to set this apart and create a container that is open to new ideas and experiences.
2. Begin with looking back.
I always ask myself, “what’s working & what’s not” I like to ask myself this question about four major areas of my life and business. What’s working & not working in my relationships, my creative expression, my career, and my health.
3. Dream about the near future.
I always like to set goals for 6-months down the road. Looking too far into the future is impossible. You don’t know who you are going to be in 10 years or what circumstances out of your control are going to come into play. Consider what you want your life to look like in 6-months. If everything in your life were just right, what would it look like? What would you have on your list of things to do that day? What kind of projects are you completing? How do you feel and why do you feel that way? What’s your routine? What’s your process?
Write it out and take note of the information you receive from there. Don’t be alarmed if you realize that you aren’t doing half of the things you’re doing. Sometimes our future selves can access how much we hate things or love things a lot easier than we can because they aren’t dealing with the immediate consequences but they can see what will happen if we don’t make changes down the road.
4. Plan.
Take that information and make a plan. Problem solve for the things that aren’t working and create a plan to get to the life you want 6-months from now. How do you do that? Set some goals.
I recommend 4-5 goals for the 6-month period. Then, break them down into smaller increments and add dates to those. Every goal should have at least 6 small steps with a deadline attached to each step!
5. Chart the course.
For those first step goals, I want you to make sure you add dates. If there’s not a due date, you are significantly less likely to do it. If you don’t take the first step, you won’t meet the goal. Period.
Add a date to each of those first monthly goals and then just focus on completing one task and then the next until you reach your destination.
