Many times, a good way to help us plan for the future is to reflect upon the past. The questions that follow came from a woman in my Mastermind Group. Although she doesn’t have a birth business, I admire her because of the lengths she goes to in planning — both her professional and personal lives. The success she’s had in her business is proof that planning works!

Exercise:

To plan for the next year, here are some questions you can reflect upon:

What did you do in the last twelve months that you’d never done before?

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

What was your biggest failure?

What did you get really, really, really excited about in the last twelve months?

Compared to this time last year, you are:

What do you wish you’d done more of?

What did you want and get?

What did you want and not get?

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

What kept you sane?

What is a valuable life lesson you learned in the last twelve months?

I never have time to:

I spend too much time on:

I don’t have well-defined goals for:

I have a hard time saying no to:

I would like to spend more time:

I am happiest when:

Tips for completing these questions:

1. Copy and paste these questions into a Word document and print them out.
2. Dedicate a couple of hours to answer these questions.
3. Write the first thing that comes to mind for each question or statement.
4. Don’t edit yourself or attempt to make this a literary work of art.

You may want to share these questions with your significant other. This is a great conversation starter!

If you like, email me or add a comment about the question that drew forth the strongest reaction, good or bad. Tell me how your answer to the question will affect what you do in your business or personal life for the next year.

These posts may also inspire you:

1. What’s Working and Not Working For You?
2. Set Your Doula Business Apart From The Rest With Effective Service Descriptions
3. 5 Steps to Summer Sanity: Business Vision (Part 2)
4. How Balanced are the Various Areas of Your Life?
5. 5 Steps to Summer Sanity: Family Vision (Part 1)