Hey CEO! Reflecting on a Year of Success, Lessons, and Growth
“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”- Margaret J. Wheatley
As I’m sure you already know, the holiday season is hectic, stressful, and chaotic. And because of this, we often forget to devote a few minutes to ourselves to recognize our biggest accomplishments of the year, the biggest lessons we learned, and what we want more (and LESS) of in the upcoming year.
Reflection can be a great tool for setting yourself up for a better future. It helps you to organize your thoughts as a business owner and provides personal clarity.
So before we close the door to 2021, let's take a look back so that we can begin to look forward.
How to Reflect
Much like digital marketing, which requires flexibility and experimentation, reflection does not have a concrete process. However, there are some specific ways that can help you get the ball rolling.
Set aside an hour to look back on the past year. Find a quiet place that inspires you and grab some writing tools.
Go through your calendar to remind yourself of all the events, meetings, and projects that took place. Don’t just look through the recent stuff. You want to look at the big picture of the year as a whole, not just a snapshot. So go through your planners, calendars, and sticky notes to trigger memories and help you assemble the big picture.
One way to make your reflection richer is to take out a blank sheet of paper and write out a list of questions to answer and think about.
To get you started, we have provided you with a list of questions to ask yourself for better reflection and a better year ahead.
1. What Are You Most Proud of?
Oftentimes, we are our own worst critics which is why we think it’s important to start your year reflection by giving yourself some credit.
Look back on the things you achieved that you're proud of and remember any meaningful moments that mattered this year.
Did you close more leads than last year? Maybe your website has been driving impressive visits lately. Whatever they are, write them down and reflect upon them. Doing this will help you focus on where you want to spend your time and energy in the coming year.
2. Did You Meet Your Goals?
It’s important to contemplate if you and your team met the marketing goals you set for yourself. But in order to do that effectively, you need a way to measure data and metrics. You can’t win if you don’t keep score.
Without setting KPIs (key performance indicators) for your marketing activities, it’s impossible to know what’s working. Metrics help you define the space (aka your “growth gap”) between how you’re performing now, and how you want to be performing one year from now.
When you understand your “growth gap”, you can plan the marketing and sales strategies that will help you leap ahead of your 2022 goals.
3. What Would You Do Differently in Hindsight?
Nobody enjoys looking at your own faults or failures, but it is a necessary exercise. Be honest with yourself about the mistakes you made and the regrets you have.
Review your KPIs, start with the 50,000-foot view. Then dig in. The data will show you opportunities for improvement. And probably remind you of an opportunity that you passed up or a project you know you didn't give your all to. Perhaps you have been putting off updating your website content despite knowing it would improve your SEO.
Successes and failures are all learning opportunities. Acknowledge your failures with compassion and use them to make smarter decisions in the future. You now know which avenues NOT to take your team down!
4. What Do You Need to Do More of?
Take some time to go through any KPI metrics that you have to see where and how your marketing efforts paid off this year.
Note where improvements can be made and use this information to set tangible goals and targets. Maybe your blog hasn’t been updated in a while or your social posts aren’t getting many views. Whatever the case, write down your findings so that you can find a solution later on.
5. What Does Future Success Look Like for Your Marketing Team?
Now that you’ve come to the end of your reflection, you should have a clearer vision of what success looks like to you moving forward. Prioritize what’s important for a coming year of fulfillment for you, your company, and your team!
Reflection Promotes Growth
Hopefully, this list will help get you started on your end-of-the-year reflection. Remember that reflection can be the pause that brings you current peace of mind and future productivity. So set aside some time to answer these questions and best of luck in 2022!