When we get around to this time of year, we begin to look back on our year. Especially this year, we have a lot to reflect on. Things might look different from person to person. We may notice growth or decline in both personal and professional settings. Just as the weather changes, there are seasons of life that bring on different events and challenges.

It’s the perfect time to gain some perspective, take a step back from the bigger picture, and evaluate where we are in our business. 

Take the time out of your day specifically to sit down with a pencil and paper and give your full attention to this little exercise. Somewhere relaxed and comfortable is ideal. 

Write out what you went through month by month; accomplishments, failures (which are ok and just as important), any observations, ideas that you may have been having, directions you felt you were going (and may have gone). 

What has and hasn’t been working for you and/or your team? Are you stressed out about serving clients, feeling like you’re going above and beyond, or is there just room for improvement? Are you where you thought you’d be at the beginning of this year?

I don’t want you to ask any of yourself these questions feeling under pressure. For a moment, detach from how you feel about any of the answers. Remain as unbiased as possible and imagine you’re a 3rd party, just taking notes.

Now that you’re seeing all this laid out in front of you, on paper, let’s look at current you vs future you. 

To do this, draw a little you (doesn’t matter your art skills, this will pay off, trust me) on the left and title them “Current Me”.

Current you things to consider and write out, anywhere on your paper – 

• A day in your life currently

• How you serve your community and clients

• What you feel good about right now (new ideas, workshops you taken, new moves in your marketing, etc)

• What could be going better (habits, systems in place, how you’re spending your time, how many hours you’re working) 

•  Goals you have and are currently pursuing 

Next to your current self, doodle another little you and title them “Future Me” and consider;

• What you want to have accomplished by then (any time frame you want, a few months, a year)

• Again, how you serve your community and clients

• What a day in your life will look like

• How you feel about yourself

• How your business has grown

• Goals that the future you will have and will be working on

This may seem silly at first or you may not be able to jot out a lot. But once you get the ball rolling, the ink will begin to really flow. You can start adding back in the personal and emotional things you feel towards your business. Remember what you put your blood, sweat, and tears into. Dig deep for this part.

After you’re through with that, you can then start analyzing how you close the gap between your current self and future self.  What habits need to shift, where should you pull back with your time and energy and what can you start funneling more into? 

Remember, we’re not putting pressure on anything. We want to take these notes and apply them to our current systems to better ourselves. You can’t start by tearing yourself down because that will never build you up. 

I really hope this serves you and you have a fresh perspective on your why and where you see yourself in the far or near future. If you complete this little exercise, I’d love to hear about it. You can show me through a post on Facebook or Instagram or just send me a message letting me know what you got out of this.

Xoxo,

Aliyah