When you reach the end of your week, your month, or your year, can you clearly articulate what you accomplished? Do you know what your mistakes and learnings were? I have a weekly stand-up with a colleague and every week I’m left looking at my calendar trying to figure out what I’d done the prior week.
If you’re like me, this can be super frustrating but I’ve got a suggestion that will change all that. What if, hear me out now, what if you shared your journey with someone? What if you asked someone you know to let you email them on a daily basis where you chronicle everything you worked on and completed?
You may find a thrilling sense of accomplishment when you do this. There’s something really invigorating about writing down everything you did that day. Formatting it in such a way that your partner will actually understand it helps as well. Going through that exercise will hammer home just how productive you were, in spite of how you felt.
After sending a few of these emails you can decide if this is a habit you want to keep or dismiss. You may also decide that your friend or partner doesn’t need to be receiving daily emails from you but that the practice can continue without a recipient. Maybe you email them weekly, but you record your accomplishments daily and then populate your weekly from your personal notes.
Ultimately, you’re in the thick of it every day and it’s really hard to see your own progress. This is where another person can be super helpful. One of my friends took a month off in July and when she got back she asked me how I’d been, how my business had grown and progressed in her absence.
I started to feel really guilty, like I hadn’t done anything in July … but after we talked for a bit she started berating me (in the way that friends do) for being so hard on myself. In her eyes I had accomplished an incredible amount in the span of a month. She’d seen a snapshot before, and then another one a month later. She had a perspective I did not.
Your friends, your colleagues, have that same perspective you do not. If you give them the opportunity, they too can help you acknowledge your progress. Share your journey with someone. Share it with many people. Your tribe will listen. They’ll celebrate with you. They’ll learn with you.
You are not alone. You do not have to be alone. You accomplish so much every day and you deserve to see and internalize that.
Every small business owner deserves to have the success, and the life, that they dreamed of when they started, including you.
PS: This is one of the various ways I engage with people. Many small business owners want to grow their business and improve their lives, but they’re overwhelmed and they don’t know how. As a result, I provide support and guidance to help them drive their business forward so they can focus on what’s most important.
Here’s how you get started:
- Reach out on LinkedIn or via my website to schedule a call
- We get to know each other a bit and you tell me about yourself, your business, and what your current challenges are
- Schedule a low-risk 60-90 minute coaching session to take the first step toward a solution and experience what it’s like to work together
Additionally, I’ve created a straightforward 3 step process to help you change the trajectory of your business. You can gain free access to it by clicking here.