While December is traditionally a month dedicated to intense business planning for the upcoming year, and I did my fair share of that too (hello shiny, new business plan!), we often forget to take a look back at all of the things we’ve accomplished and the lessons we learned along the way.

Today, I challenge you to get quiet with yourself and fully reflect on this year, to pull out the highlights from this blur of a year to help bring you into 2017 with light and love. Here are a few questions to help you kick-start your review:

What gave you the greatest perspective shifts in 2016?

There’s nothing I love digging more into than how many new perspectives I’ve encountered in a year and how my thought process has changed. In business and in life, we’re constantly learning from one another and within ourselves. Sometimes we enter one year with a certain mentality that’s completely altered by the time we move into the next. This is something beautiful to be celebrated and surely not forgotten.

What were you most thankful to have enough of in 2016?

We live in a culture of “More” which often takes our minds away from what is good in our everyday life. In order to prosperous, we must be satisfied with what we have today. This can stretch beyond physical possessions into lessons, expertise, and other traits and skills we acquire over time.

My definition of “Enough” shifted this year in the best way. I used to think the term was inherently negative with the way others talked about it, like only having enough to get by or being stuck in the cycle of “just enough”, but I now see the word as the place of ultimate gratitude. It’s being okay with who you are, where you are, and with what you have. I think this mentality then leads to being more grateful for anything “More” that comes your way.

What did you want more of in 2016?

Try to go deeper with your answers than simply physical things like “a new office desk” or specific dollar amounts of income. Instead, focus on the true reasoning behind those wants, like the new office desk creates a dedicated space for your craft that you never had growing up or the sustainable income that will finally allow you to feel comfortable taking that cross-country trip you’ve been planning in your head since college.

I’ve seen the word “manifest” pop up a lot in the online business circles when we talk about wanting more of something. Maybe that word jives with you, or maybe you need to find another word that helps you get intentional with this process like “attract”, “desire”, or something else entirely. Find what works for you!

Additional soul-centered questions for your year in review:

• What were your most valuable lessons in 2016?
• What worked this year that took you by surprise?
• What didn’t work this year that took you by surprise?
• List the 5 most influential people in your life from 2016. Write the biggest lesson you gained from each person. (This one is a GAME CHANGER!)
• List 10 adjectives to describe 2016. (No self-censorship! The first to come to mind.)
• What were your strongest values of 2016? Are they the same going into 2017?
• What did Abundance look like in 2016? What will it look like in 2017?

The post 10 Questions to Spark Your Year in Business Review appeared first on Sindie.

I’ve tried many forms of journaling including bullet journaling, dream journaling, travel journaling, daily logging, and dozens more but nothing has helped me as much as my vision journaling practice.

What is a vision journal?

Essentially, it’s a journal you create in order to clarify your vision for your brand, business, passion projects, and life. It helps you set intentions and keep track of your goals so you can break them down into daily action steps.

I’ve been vision journaling consistently for almost 3 years and throughout all of my transitions, it’s been the one thing I’ve kept as a part of my creative process. It mixes some of my favorite journaling techniques with unique prompts I create to fit each area of my life I want to gain clarity in.

I first created these prompts to help myself get closer to my dreamy vision but after sharing some of my progress on Instagram, people were so interested that I’ve decided to talk about it in more depth here.

How can a vision journal help you?

Hold you accountable to your bigger vision

Part of the magic of vision journaling is that once you’ve written something down, it stays on the page as well as on your mind. It keeps you accountable for completing each action step, much like a to-do list. It can almost act as an accountability buddy (but get a human one too because they’re wonderful!)

Assess your strengths and weaknesses

You may have been taught otherwise but your weaknesses aren’t a bad thing.  They actually help you better discover your strengths and cultivate your natural gifts. Why spend mental energy on the things that don’t light you up or make you feel creative and brilliant? Vision journaling will help you focus on what you’re truly great at so you can harness your full potential.

Remember your wins, no matter how small

When is the last time you sat down and thought about all of the things you’ve accomplished this month or maybe even this year? When you’re constantly striving to hit your next goal, it can be easy to lose sight of all the progress you’ve made. Having the progress documented in a vision journal can help you remember how far you’ve come.

How can you use a vision journal?

Set your intentions

At the start of every new month, I sit down with my vision journal and set my overarching goals for the next few weeks. Some prefer to do this on a weekly or even daily basis, but monthly works best for me.

I also like to choose a word for the month to guide all of my actions, almost like how others choose a word for the year. This allows me to have periods of rest, hustle, and anything in between. It helps remind you of your commitments and the boundaries you’ve set for yourself.

When I go deeper as to why I’m choosing each goal, it helps me set an intention. What do I hope to accomplish? What does this look like in regards to my creative process? How do I want to feel? Digging deep will help you discover the ‘why’ behind every ‘what’.

Create a yes/no list

Once you’ve set your intentions, you can move onto creating a yes/no list for the timeline you’ve chosen. This is by no means a new concept, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful.

Start by creating a simple two-column chart on a piece of paper in your vision journal. Label one side as ‘Yes’ and the other as ‘No’. Gradually fill in each column using bullet points. Then when a new opportunity comes along, you’ll be able to filter it through your yes/no list.

For example, if a business owner reached out to you about collaborating on a joint venture webinar but on your yes/no list you wrote that you wanted to focus your energy on creating your upcoming ebook, it may not be a good fit with your intentions. Instead, ask the potential collaborator if there’s an opportunity in the next few months to team up. The hardest part isn’t making the yes/no list, but sticking to it.

Work through something you’re struggling with

As creatives, we all battle an array of fears: doubt, failure, comparison, competition, shame, the list goes on. Rather than hiding from them, face it head on and work through it to get at its core. Once you get at the heart of the issue, you can overcome the fear.

Start by listing all of the questions that little voice in your head keeps asking you. Work through each question and decide whether it’s worth considering or if it’s irrelevant. Some questions may lead you to bigger “ah-ha” moments.

Determine your next steps

When growing your brand, have you ever felt overwhelmed with options? It can feel like there are so many paths to take but how do you know which one to take? Map them out in your vision journal!

When faced with a game-changing decision, I often make a new column for each path and write all of the elements. This means what taking that path could look like, what I like about it, what I dislike about it, and where it could potentially lead to. Seeing it all laid out can help you make a better decision that’s more aligned with your intentions and thus your vision.

The post A Complete Guide to Vision Journaling appeared first on Sindie.

I had a conversation with my dad a few nights back about modern-day, online entrepreneurship, a topic he was especially intrigued by after listening to the Rich Dad, Poor Dad audiobook during his recent vacation with my mom.

The book set the stage for the traditional view of entrepreneurship. You know the one. Create a product, get investors, mass produce it, build a massive team of people who are strong where you weak, invest most of your money, and retire ridiculously early so you can spend every day with sand between your toes and a fruity cocktail in hand.

This vision, while grand, is not what I desire.

“Well, if you aren’t after the financial gain, what are you after?”

I suddenly got quiet, only letting a few words escape.

“Something deeper.”

I explained that while money is crucial to making a living, it’s not going to make or break my life. It’s not what fuels me to hustle. It never has been. There’s a bigger purpose, a bigger mission involved here.

When launching a passion project or business out into the world, we’re taught from the very beginning that success looks a certain way. This often means 6-figure launch success stories, the elusive 4-hour workweek, and let’s not forget those sponsored luxury hotel stays and getaways.

While all of this sounds dreamy, is it right for all of us to be chasing after this? Is this the only way we can be successful in growing our business?

I don’t think so.

I dream of creative retreats with people from my thriving community. I dream of morning journaling, midday grocery shopping, afternoon hikes, and evening content creation. I dream of quality time with family, celebrating friends on their accomplishments, and real, deep relationships.

I dream of a simplified life that feels so good.

I’ve realized that what I’m striving for is a fulfilling lifestyle in which my business effortlessly fits into. Financial freedom is a tool that will help me along the way, sure, but it isn’t my end game and it doesn’t have to be your end game either.

To help you find what motivates your hustle and what you’re working toward, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Trust your own process

In my niche, making a multi-figure pre-sale launch is the ultimate accomplishment, the mountaintop moment, yet I’m launching my first course next week and not pre-selling it. To me, there was no need to pre-sell it if I already knew I wanted to create all of the content and I wanted my students to dive right into all of the material to set their own pace.

You have to embrace your own natural process and trust your intuitions. If I would’ve told myself pre-selling is the only way I can market my course, it would have created a lot of tension throughout the creative process.

Remember, you can admire the way someone else builds their business without having to build yours the same way. Go your own way!

Understand your core values

What do you value in business, in passion projects, in life? The more you’re in tune with your values, the more focused you’ll be in working for them. This leads to a more fulfilling life because you’re chasing after what you desire.

If you need help in understanding what your values are, try Danielle LaPorte’s Core Desired Feelings (or CDFs for short) worksheet activity. It will unearth your deepest desires for how you want to feel in your everyday life, which will lead you to your values. My CDFs are encouraged, rhythm, ease, and light. Share yours with me in the comments!

Know your motivations for working

Have you ever taken a second to really think about what motivates you to create? We may think we know what our biggest motivations are but sometimes it takes getting them down on paper to really see what our vision truly is.

I journal every day, and it’s essential to my creative process. I recently created a journal prompt to help me focus on where my motivation comes from the previous conversation with my dad. It really helped me in seeing on paper what really fuels me in my business and life.

I’m sharing this journal prompt and others I’ve created all throughout the summer, starting on the week on June 13th! Sign up below for access to all of my vision journal prompts.

The post Why You Can Build Your Own Business: For Burned-Out, Comparison-Stressed Business Owners appeared first on Sindie.