Creating space for reflection is priceless especially when you are busy making decisions, taking chances, and growing and/or scaling your business. It may seem counterintuitive to slow down just as you are speeding up but pausing regularly, as you are moving your business forward, can be hugely beneficial. And all too often, we take time to think about why we failed and not as often to think about how we succeeded. Especially once it’s over and you are moved on to the next thing, right? In my past work, I supported complex systems change work as a Developmental Evaluator with a national youth engagement project, called YouthScape. Think, many community groups working together in order to do better at engaging young people in their communities and organizations. It was my job to deeply listen, watch and pose questions, nudge gently, and share observations, so that changes could be made in real time and not wait until the end of the initiative. To bring this back to you and your business goals, let’s imagine you just had a really successful program launch. Imagine if you only looked back at the end of your program? Sure, you can try to remember the key takeaways, stories or ah-ha moments and bring those forward going in to your next launch. Now, imagine pausing during your program rather than at the very end? I like to take an assets-based approach, which really just means spending time thinking about what is working well and what success looks like vs looking at all the things that went wrong (don’t get me wrong, we’ll also figure out what didn’t work well). When I work with clients, I encourage you to celebrate your successes and talk about them! This will really help with planning especially when you are in a high growth stage and it can even help if you are stuck and not 100% sure what your path forward should be. Take time to reflect at all stages in your business - your future self will thank you! By making time to pause and reflect on what’s working well, your future planning will be so much easier because you will have identified patterns around your key strategies for success. Are you ready to celebrate? You don't need to toss confetti around...but set some time aside to think about something successful you did recently. Something that you are really proud of. Now think about why it was successful. How were you feeling about it? Did you hear others talking about it? What were the facts/numbers that tell you it was successful? Now dig in and start thinking about how you did it and what you actually did to make it a success. Notice any themes? How might you use this information to support your business growth? A lot of what I do with my coaching clients is based on reflection exercises like this. We go below the surface and dig deeper to clearly identify the strategies you use regularly that lead to success. Of course, during these conversations, we are also able to see what really hasn’t worked well and what to let go. If you are moving fast and are seeing opportunities to grow or scale your business, I urge you to take time to pause and reflect. Feel free to download my worksheet to take you through this reflection exercise. The download comes with an example sheet to get you thinking...the strategies are a bit extreme (sure, it's easy-peasy to land a guest spot on Amy Porterfield's podcast, right?!) but I think you can see patterns of good communication and self care strategies shining through. Do you make time for reflection in your business? Is it something you do intentionally and regularly or is it off-the-cuff when it feels right? Are you more prone to reflecting when things are going well or when you've come up against a block or challenge? Please leave a reply in the comments below!
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