Before you draw a line in the sand on 2015, take time to reflect.

Here we are, our last article of 2015. One of the benefits of running my own business is that I can choose my own holidays; I have no restrictions around the number of days I can take or the time of year I choose to take them. This of course is dependant on how well my business is performing and if it is performing well enough to provide me with the lifestyle (which includes holidays) that I choose. I am more than happy to say that it certainly has done this and one of the key reasons for that is the time we, as a business, dedicate to planning out each and every year.

As planning is all about the future, we can sometimes forget to look back at the past and what it has to teach us about the way forward. As a prerequisite to any planning process, I would encourage you to take some time out for reflection.

When doing our own plans and when working with clients these are just a few of the questions we ask, and I thought you might like to give them a go and see what you learn in the process:

What have been the high points of the year?

What have you learned in the last 12 months?

How have you developed personally?

What didn’t go so well?

Have I achieved all my goals?

What was the best piece of advice I got or book I read this year?

Where was most of my focus this year?

What gave me the greatest sense of achievement?

Which actions brought about the biggest results?

If was there a newspaper headline describing this past year in your business/life, what would it say?

What unfinished business did you want to resolve before the years end and when will you do it?

When were you most excited about life in this past year? What were you doing? Who were you with?

What one thing would you have done differently in the past year?

Where did you let fear hold you back from achieving a goal you had set?

What new dream for yourself did you achieve?

What were your top five wins?

What were your top five challenges?

What are the top five things you are grateful for this year?

What are the top five books you have read and acted upon this year?

Looking back over the past year and looking forward into next year what do you need to...

Start doing?

Stop doing?

Continue and improve doing?

On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your achievements?

What could you have done differently to score higher?

On average, how many hours a week did you work this year?

How do you feel about that?

On a scale of 1-10 how do you rate the following:

Staff recruitment and retention?

Team support?

Team morale?

How do you feel about this?

If you were to take the time to fully consider these questions you find that it becomes easier to be clear about what you want for 2016. What is 2016 going to be about for you? More of the same? Something much better? Something really exciting? The choice is yours.

Enjoy this exercise and whatever you decide you are looking forward to in 2016. May I take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Very Prosperous New Year from all of us at Momentum Performance Coaching.