Reviewing the First Half of the Year
Today, we are kicking off a brand new series for the month of July called the Midyear Business Reset. Can you believe we’re already halfway through the year? But whether this year has flown by for you or you feel like it’s moving at a snail’s pace, July is a wonderful time to pause- not because you failed, just because it’s wise to evaluate where you are before deciding where you’re going.
For the next four weeks, we’ll be talking about how to reflect on the first half of the year, let go of what’s no longer serving your business, set intentional goals for the months ahead, and ultimately finish the year strong. So today we’re starting with something that many entrepreneurs skip: taking time for a midyear review.
The Value of Midyear Reflection
Why do you think that most business owners don’t stop to reflect? We’re often focused on what’s going to happen next, the next deadline that we have for writing, the next launch perhaps, or the next project that we rarely stop to ask ourselves an important question. Is what I am doing actually working?
Because let’s face it, it’s easy to stay busy, but it’s much harder but more valuable to stop long enough to evaluate. The truth is, if we never pause to reflect, we risk repeating the same mistakes or continuing to invest the time and energy into the things that aren’t producing results. A midyear review isn’t about criticizing yourself. It’s about becoming a better steward of the business that God has entrusted to you.
Midyear Celebration
First, let’s take the time to celebrate. Celebrate your wins. Before you start looking at what didn’t happen, I want to encourage you to begin with gratitude. What has gone well this year? Maybe you launched a new service.
Maybe you grew your email list. Maybe you spoke at an event. Maybe you published another book. Or maybe your wins aren’t flashy at all. Perhaps you’ve become more consistent. Maybe you’ve set healthier boundaries. Maybe you’ve taken one day a week off. Maybe you’ve learned to delegate. Those are victories worth celebrating as well. Spend a few minutes writing down every win that you can think of from the first half of the year.
Midyear Gratitude
Then ask yourself another question: where have I seen God’s faithfulness? Sometimes we’re so focused on what’s next that we overlook the prayers that God has already answered. Take time to thank him.
Gratitude will give you some perspective, and perspective helps move us forward with confidence instead of discouragement. Then you can go back and revisit the goals that you’ve set. If you’re like many of us, you probably started the year full of ideas and goals.
Midyear Goal Evaluation
If you’re like me, maybe you set 12-week goals. I have been doing the 12-week year for years now. I have set 12-week goals every 12 weeks over the last few years. So over the last 12 weeks, I can look back over those weeks to see if I have reached the goals that I set. Which goals have you completed? Which ones are you making progress on? And which ones no longer make sense for you?
Then you even have to ask yourself, “Were the goals that I made actually aligned with the direction that God was leading me?” Sometimes I have to step back and say, “These goals have changed,” or, “Something has changed to where these don’t fit anymore, or this one doesn’t fit anymore.”
And it’s okay to change your goals. Not every goal that you originally set still needs to be your goal at the time, because sometimes your circumstances change, sometimes opportunities will shift, or sometimes God will redirect us, and that’s not failure; that’s wisdom. Your goals should serve your mission, not the other way around.
Identify What is Working
So identify what is actually producing results for you. One of the most valuable exercises that you can do is identify the activities that produce the greatest return on your investment of time, of resources, of energy, of money. And you can do that by asking yourself:
- Which marketing efforts generated the most results for me?
- What content resonated with my audience?
- What task energized me?
- What is most important or consumed a lot of my time but didn’t produce any fruit?
We often assume that we need to do more, but in reality, we usually need to do more of what already works.
Master the Mundane
I have worked with a coach in the past. Her name is Teresa Taylor, and she taught us to master the mundane. Even though it was so simple, it was almost groundbreaking because it was the same task repeated over time that got results, and it was the specific task over and over again consistently that got the best results.
She called it mastering the mundane, and I love that, so I wanted to share that with you. So in reality, we usually need to do more of what already works, like she had us do, and I have also done for years with the 12-week year, which is tracking your efforts. Even if it’s a simple spreadsheet or a notebook, it can make a huge difference.
So I do that in my planner every week, and I track the results or the tasks that I need to master, and I need to do weekly, daily, or whatever the case may be. So I encourage you to do that. And if you don’t know about the 12-week year, I would love to have you go back and listen to the episodes that I did, I believe it was last year, on the concept of the 12-week year with my friend and accountability partner, Tricia. So that’s where you begin to track your efforts, and when you know what’s working, you can make better decisions moving forward.
Learn from Your Challenges
And then you have to learn from your challenges. Every business owner will face challenges. Maybe you experience a launch that didn’t go as planned. Maybe life circumstances interrupted your plans. And instead of viewing those moments as failure, ask yourself, what did you learn from it? What did this experience teach me?
Every challenge contains a lesson if we’re willing to look for it. Some of my greatest business lessons came from things that didn’t go according to plan. And then I could use those to help improve the systems that I have, to communicate more clearly, and to make better decisions. And the goal isn’t always perfection; the goal is growth. So you have to decide what deserves more attention.
Focus Your Attention
So you’ve looked at your wins, you’ve looked at your goals, you’ve looked at your results, and the lessons that you’ve learned, but ask yourself a final question. What deserves more attention during the second half of the year?
Maybe you want to continue to build your email list or start building your email list. Maybe it’s finding systems that actually work for you and save you time. Maybe it’s spending more time writing your next book. Or maybe it’s simply protecting your calendar so that you have more margin.
You don’t have to improve everything all at once. You need to choose one or two priorities. Focus deeply instead of spreading yourself thin. And often simplicity leads to greater momentum. So as we wrap up today’s episode, I want to leave you with this thought. You can’t move forward strategically without understanding where you’ve been.
From Reflection to Action
Reflection isn’t about living in the past. It’s about learning from the past so that you can move forward into the future with greater wisdom, clarity, and confidence. So I encourage you this week to block off just thirty minutes to an hour on your calendar. Grab your planner, your notebook, your favorite beverage, and spend some time intentionally reviewing the first half of your year.
Celebrate what God has done, learn from what didn’t go as planned, and begin preparing your heart and your business for what’s ahead. Next week, we’re going to talk about something that can be surprisingly freeing: what to stop doing in your business. Because sometimes the best way to move forward isn’t adding more to your plate; it’s taking a few things off of it.
If today’s episode encouraged you, I’d love for you to subscribe to the podcast and share it with someone else who could use a mid-year reset. And if you’d like support in building a simple, sustainable marketing system for your book or your business, you can connect with me.
