So, as you may or may not know, I recently closed the PLR shop over on our flagship site at RitchieMedia.ca. Instead of diving right in to something new, it only seems right to take time to reflect on the successes, the failures, and the lessons learned in running that shop for the past 5 years.
It’s perfectly normal to experience times that you aren’t happy or satisfied with where your life is going, no matter how many goals you may have accomplished. The point of reflection is to make sure you’re still heading in the right direction. If achieving your goals isn’t making you happy or more satisfied with your life, maybe it’s time to stop and think about why that could be.
Taking time to reflect does a few things for both you and your business:
• It builds confidence and self-efficacy.
• It reduces stress and improves clarity.
• It improves your goals and business processes.
• It saves time and allows you to be more productive.
So while you’re planning your next goals, here are a few things to consider:
Ask Yourself Open-ended Questions
Start the process by asking yourself open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer. Reflection should inspire you to dig deeper into your processes, goals, and aspirations to make sure that you are still on the right path for the success you want to achieve.
The following are a few ideas to get you started:
• What’s working right now that I should continue?”
• What didn’t work that I should change or adjust?”
• What’s one new thing I have learned?”
• What emotions did I experience, and how have they affected my work?”
• What am I proud of?”
Each of these questions is designed to analyze your actions and results and see how they compare to your ultimate goals.
Find Solutions Based On Your Answers
After you answer each question, you need to take notice and action on whether you need to stick to your plan or change course. If you are experiencing more emotions than usual, for example, then it’s likely you need to add another routine or adjust a habit to make your day easier, less overwhelming, and more stress-free.
Pay attention to what comes up for you when you take time to reflect. For example, the other day I had a random thought that now that I’m not creating PLR anymore, maybe I should hang my VA shingle out again for awhile. I have over 25 years of experience in online marketing and website building, and I know that I can help people with that.
Within 2 hours, two different people messaged to ask me questions on a specific topic that I am very good at. I’m not going to say what it is yet because I’m still putting together what that would look like. But it means that by taking time to reflect and let my thoughts flow, I have a new possible income stream and the Universe showed me that it’s definitely needed.
Take Your Personal Needs Into Account
One of the most important steps in this reflection process is to take into account your personal needs outside your business. While I agree that a big part of being a solopreneur is that what we do is a big part of who we are, there are still things you want and need that have nothing to do with your business. Self-care is huge for solopreneurs, and that’s definitely something we’ll be talking more about.
Final Thoughts
As you go through the process of taking time to reflect, it’s important to note that each time the experience will be, and should be, different in order to see results. Commit to the process and journal your results so that the next time you do this, you can see how far you’ve come and where you’ve veered off in different directions.