Review-ing is a key part of the planning process. If you don’t review regularly you’ll miss opportunities for growth, in business and in life.

(Every time I wrote reviewing, all I could see is ‘revie’ ‘wing’! Review-ing was also way better for SEO according to my clever little Yoast thingymijiggy! 😂😉😂.)

It’s all well and good to create a beautiful plan, which helps keep you on track, away from shiny objects and moving towards your business goals, but if you don’t review your plan regularly it’s difficult to know whether you’re still on track or not. (Is your beautiful plan sitting in a pile of dusty papers, and hasn’t seen the light of day since you spent that time making it?) It’s ok, it’s really common, and it’s usually because you haven’t yet understood the value of the review-ing process.

Sitting down to do a review gives you the opportunity to evaluate what went well, as-well-as what didn’t go to plan. So many of us think we’ve accomplished way less than we actually have. A review gets us to be real about what’s actually happened and then to decide whether we like what’s happening, and if not, what we want to change. It’s not a stick to beat ourselves with, it’s more like a pair of training wheels, which show us when we’re going wonky and prevents us from going down with a crash.

5 considerations when you sit down to review.

1. What exactly are you reviewing?

Is it an overview of your whole business? Are you looking at particular metrics? Focusing on a particular campaign or launch? Considering self-care practices, or the support or mentorship you are receiving? There are an infinite amount of things you can review, get clear on the scope of this one.

2. What time period are you reviewing for?

Is it a day, a week, a month, a quarter, a year, your life? Get clear about the time period you are focusing on.

3. Keep it simple.

What went well, what DID you achieve? But also, what didn’t go well, what didn’t you achieve? What did you learn that you’d like to take forward to the next section of time?

4. When and how often would it be beneficial to repeat this review? Schedule it!

A weekly review ideally takes place weekly to gain the full benefit. A monthly review would be monthly. I review my social media and email marketing metrics monthly. Gift yourself plenty of time to indulge in your review process. Block it out in your calendar at intervals which make sense to you and your business.

5. Systemise your review process.

Whether you make yourself a printable PDF you can use again and again, (I use the same one I give my client’s,) a spreadsheet, an organisation app such as Trello, Asana, or Click up, make your review process easy. Know where it is, and work through it again and again. I find it helpful to have my metrics and tick-boxes for weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual tasks on a spreadsheet, so that I can observe my development and consistency over time in one easy chart.

Review-ing is an investment in time which will enable you to connect with your business and life, goals and dreams on a much deeper level. It will repay you in dividends. It’ll enable you to evaluate where you need to make changes based on data rather than stories you’ve made up in your head. It’ll stave off the overwhelm and disappointment when things don’t go to plan, because you’ll always find something that did. It’ll help you to course-correct and be sensibly flexible with your plan, and it’ll help you to stay aligned with the latest version of yourself.

If you’d like to discuss how I can help you with the business (and life!) planning and review process, book a complementary call here. Let’s chat.