Ready for a Mid-Year Review? Make the Most of the Rest of 2014! (Part 1)

Who’s ready for a mid-year review?! I know I sure am. One of my favorite exercises on Marketing Creativity is the 7-day New Year review I conduct annually. Seven months later, my soul’s craving a quiet session of reflection.  If you feel the same, join me!

Your Mid-Year Review Questions

Today I’ll prompt you with a review of the last several months, and then I’ll leave my answers below. Come back tomorrow (a 2-parter!) so that we can go over what’s working (aka what you need to do MORE of) to make the most of the rest of 2014. Begin with these five questions:

1. What feels good about the first half of 2014? What’s clicking?

2. What areas of your life or business are feeling out of sync?

3. What do you want the rest of the year to feel like? What would you like to see take shape?

4. What will you need to do to make that visualization come true?

5. What would you like to stop doing? What’s eating up your time, making you feel bad, or not contributing to your best life in any way?

My Mid-Year Review Answers

1. What feels good about the first half of 2014? What’s clicking?

Full-disclosure feels good. (Here’s a link to my latest income report.) It has helped me to better appreciate my work-at-home career, keep track of my budget, try harder to succeed, and organize my schedule to do more of what matters. It’s also helped me to connect with many of you on a deeper level, and that’s been an amazing side-reward to the project.

Additionally, The Summer Shift was my best career decision of all time. I am over the moon with the group coaching concentrate concept, and it’s become the most fulfilling and meaningful work I’ve ever done.

2. What areas of your life or business are feeling out of sync?

The details: That’s the best way to summarize everything that’s sort of plaguing me right now. For example, I know when and where I want to have a 2015 creative’s retreat, I just can’t seem to nail down the actual venue once and for all. I feel slightly overwhelmed by a ton of minor decisions that are taking up a lot of time and energy, and it’s turning into a mini-mountain of unfinished business.

3. What do you want the rest of the year to feel like? What would you like to see take shape?

I’d like the rest of the year to feel organized and official. I’d like to tackle all of those minor decisions I just mentioned, and come away with a concrete set of plans for the next six months by the end of summer.

4. What will you need to do to make that visualization come true?

I will need to sit down and make a list of all the unfinished business that’s currently plaguing me. This list has been kicking my ass, but now it’s time for me to set some plans in stone and schedule ahead. I need a monthly to-do list six months into the future.

5. What would you like to stop doing? What’s eating up your time, making you feel bad, or not contributing to your best life in any way?

Stalling. My phrase for the year was: Trim the fat and never rest on your laurels. It was a phrase that felt true to all five pillars of wellbeing: physical, relational, mental, financial and spiritual. I said at the time, “I want a whole lot less of what’s not adding up to value and nutrition in my life.”

There’s been times this year when I’ve really honored that message. There have been other times when I’ve been resting on my laurels. I’ve been putting off the workout routine I know I need, not reflecting as much as is good for me, and him-hawing over the work that takes effort and deliberate energy.

Gosh, that felt good! If you do a mid-year review, please link up or share what you discovered in the comments. I’ll be back tomorrow with a few more prompts for us to answer together. Until then~