Fire Starter,
On Team D we think of September as the new January, so a few months ago we dove into business-related retrospection and visioning to get free & clear for 2019. Whenever you’re ready to start fresh, here are a few laser-focused questions.
A SHORT HOW-TO FOR DOING A YEARLY RETROSPECTIVE
Step 1: Write a list of the highlights of the last year or season.
You only have five minutes. Write anything. It’s fascinating to see what surfaces when you don’t filter it, hence the time pressure.
Optional… Step 2: Have a good friend look over your list and point out anything you missed, and what they see as your patterns.
My friend, Steph, helped me with this one year… “You know what you didn’t mention on this list? HELLO! That the business made $X last year! That you did THAT business deal, and THAT business deal.”
Oops. I laughed, “Oh yeah. Money. We done good. But! I also got the BEST HAIRCUT EVER and that is monumental.” And then the laughter/dismay tears/laughter came back. I completely blanked on the dollars and deals. All I could remember was that song, and that day at the beach, and crying in the cafe, and THAT idea and THAT idea, and the ONE THING I said that day that made it all better… “My body remembers everything that really matters.” I thought.
Step 3: What pattern do YOU see?
What very obviously gave you joy? What was “big” but didn’t even make it on to the list?
Step 4: What really matters?
Chill out more and really think about what moved you and mattered the most in your past year.
Step 5: Focus.
Determine the five things you’re going to focus on in the next year or phase of your life. (Easier said than done, and/but… such focus is ESSENTIAL to your success.) Go back to Step 3.
And… that’s it. If you want to go deeper, you can always tuck into the retrospection + visioning exercises we have as part of The Desire Map Planner Program. It’s a year of Desire Mapping support that you can use for your life and biz. (It’s $45 á la carte, but comes free with every 2019 Desire Map Planner.)
The key to truly rewarding focus, in business and life, is doing what lights you up. Here’s wishing you a LUMINOUS 2019!
Bright Love,
Danielle LaPorte is an invited member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100, a group who, in Oprah Winfrey’s words, “is uniquely connecting the world together with a spiritual energy that matters.” She is author of White Hot Truth: Clarity for keeping it real on your spiritual path—from one seeker to another. The Fire Starter Sessions, and The Desire Map: A Guide To Creating Goals With Soul—the book that has been translated into 8 languages, evolved into a yearly day planner system, a top 10 iTunes app, and an international workshop program with licensed facilitators in 15 countries. Named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes, millions of visitors go to DanielleLaPorte.com every month for her daily #Truthbombs and what’s been called “the best place online for kickass spirituality.” A speaker, a poet, a painter, and a former business strategist and Washington-DC think tank exec, Entrepreneur Magazine calls Danielle, “equal parts poet and entrepreneurial badass…edgy, contrarian…loving and inspired.” Her charities of choice are Eve Ensler’s VDay: a global movement to end violence against women and girls, and charity: water, setting out to bring safe drinking water to everyone in the world. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her favourite philosopher, her son. You can find her @daniellelaporte and just about everywhere on social media.
