Closing Out a Decade | Audit Your 2019

2019 was a weird year for me. An amazing year, without a doubt. But a weird, transitional one as well. I slowed down on a lot of things professionally and built a lot of my personal life by getting married, getting adjusted, and simply just enjoying “being” while creating a new normal. I can honestly admit that there were so many business and professional goals that I fell short of. I had plans to release at least two new workbooks, I went weeks without posting on here and I didn’t pursue nearly as many brand collaborations as the year before. Acknowledging that I failed in some areas that I’d hoped to succeed in is the first opportunity for me to ensure that I avoid that in the upcoming year.

At the end of the year, here are some questions we can ask ourselves to really take an audit on how well our year went. I spent an evening dissecting these questions that will allow us to determine how we can uncover what worked for us, what didn’t and how we want to move forward.

What Worked?

Think about what you took the time out to do differently this year that worked in your favor. On my end, I had a super successful Black Friday sale that I put together at the last minute. Making time to workout in the mornings and meal prep on Sundays put me in the best shape of my life. I also figured out what my audience wants to hear more of and now I know what to create more of. So think about it…. Maybe what worked for you resulted in inching you closer to the goals that you had, aided in creating an additional source of income, grew your following or helped you secure the biggest amount of customers your business has ever seen. Jot down what you tried that work so we can focus more on those in 2020.

What Didn’t Work?

This is where you have to get honest and define what didn’t work in your favor. It’s important that we recognize these things so that we can either find a solution to the problem, or avoid it all together moving forward. Maybe you trying to stay up past 10 pm to work on a special project was always a bust. Or making it to the gym after work when you’re already drained for the day. Perhaps the savings plan that you have isn’t helping you save nearly as much as you’d hoped to. Outline where you dropped the ball, failed, or didn’t do as good at as you hoped or thought you would.

Decide Which Way to Go

Finally, you’ll review the items above and decide if you want to focus on what worked and do more of that, eliminate trying on what you failed at entirely so that you don’t continue to waste your time on that, or focus on succeeding at what you’ve previously failed at by rerouting the way you go about it and picking a path that you know will work better. Enough trial and error will easily help you identify what is working for you. There may be things that you genuinely enjoy doing that don’t help you improve your brand, business or goal. You may need to decide if you need to spend more time on a particular social media channel that gives you more traction than the others, or if you need to quit paying for a service that isn’t helping you in the way you thought it might. Really question how you’ve spent your time the last twelve months and determine if you could’ve gotten a better result by doing more of the same thing, or by doing something else.

Write it Down then Manifest

I was recently introduced to the David Allen “Get Things Done” method and I strongly encourage you to practice it. If it’s on your mind, WRITE IT DOWN. If it takes up a single thought in your mental space, write it down. Once you’ve dumped your thoughts onto paper, organize them into timelines of when you will accomplish what, down to the details on what the finished product looks like. Decide now what “done” and “success” look like, so that you don’t fall short with your goals and when you reach your destination, ‘good enough’ is just as good as ‘great job’.

What are your biggest goals for 2020? Share them below for guidance, additional encouragement or even accountability. Genuinely rooting for all of you next year!