 Setting goals and intentions for the new business year is an important part for any business and setting aside time to tackle those goals perhaps through a business plan retreat is one of the best ways that you can get ready for the upcoming year. And when we're on retreat, one of the most powerful exercises can be to take a look back at the year that was in order to set some groundwork for the year that we have ahead. So in today's video, we're going to talk about that look back, stick around. Hi, it's Leanne and I love my annual business plan retreat. In fact, last week's blog post and video talked about the importance of doing a retreat and some steps to set you up for success. What I want to do in this video though is start with the very first step of your business plan retreat and that's taking a look back at everything that happened this past year. What this exercise can do is really set you up for success when looking forward to the goals that you're setting. So we're going to talk about some of the reasons why we should take this look back and of course some of the exercises that should go along with it. Now before we get started, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click on that little bell to be notified of new content. I have content related to LinkedIn and personal branding and how you can thrive as a sales professional coming at you every single week. Now let's start taking a look at some of the reasons why we should partake in a look back when we're on these business plan retreats. Reason number one is to acknowledge all that happened to you this past year. Whether they were successes or failures or setbacks, reviewing what happened this past year helps set you up for what you can do in this upcoming year. It's often said that you never overestimate what you can get done in a week or underestimate what you can accomplish in a year. So take the time to acknowledge all the things that you accomplished this past year. Reason number two is to capture our learnings. Much of what we did last year resulted in learning a new skill or incorporating a new habit. Our successes and completed projects can teach us much about what to replicate in the upcoming year and our struggles and challenges while they can even teach us more. We learn what needs to change or we've learned a resiliency that can power us through the upcoming goals and projects. Reason number three is to reset your setbacks and failures. Likely everything didn't go according to plan this year. So now this is your opportunity to take what you learned from those setbacks and recognize that failures are events not labels and we can take what we learned into the upcoming year. Projects that didn't produce the results we were hoping for don't necessarily need to be thrown away. But rather a reframing and how we approach these projects and all the tasks associated with them. Reason number four is to celebrate. There are a number of things that we can celebrate this past year, including those completed projects and maybe some unexpected surprises. We also celebrate everything that we learned along the way. So yes, even our projects that didn't meet our goals, they can be celebrated. Anything that says yes, I did that is a moment worth celebrating. Take a moment to celebrate all the things that the year brought you and it'll put you in a better frame of mind for looking ahead. And the final reason is to look back at all of our life's domains. Now while our business plan retreat is predominantly about our business goals, there's a lot more to us as people and taking a reflective look back at all of our life's domains including our mental health, our physical health, even our relational health. This will help set us up for success in the year ahead, not only in our business, but in the rest of our life. Before you get started on your look back, I'd like you to consider a couple of activities. Number one, practice gratitude for everything that the year has brought you. Take inventory of all the events, people, successes, challenges, learnings and opportunities that came your way over the past year. Even if you don't feel like you achieved all that you set out to do, take stock of what you did achieve and have an attitude of gratitude towards those things. This can really help shape your mindset and frame the entire retreat ahead of you. Also spend some time in your affirmations. Whether you have your own affirmations or you look to other sources of inspiration, spend some time dwelling on the truths that set you up for success. These truths will combat the limiting beliefs you have about your skills and your talents and your ability to impact your community. Visit your affirmations before you launch into setting your goals for the new year. The way that you conduct this look back can either be formal or informal and there are a few tools that I want to pass along to you that you can use. The first one is a pamphlet called Year Compass. It's a free download that allows you to take a look back and of course set some goals for the year ahead. The Year Compass pamphlet has a number of leading questions that will allow you to look back at your calendar and record all of those things that I mentioned. The second resource is the life score assessment by Michael Hyatt. This looks at all 10 domains of your life and asks you one question for each and ranks it from a one to a seven. It then sends you a PDF that allows you to have a visual representation of all of your life's domains and shows you where you're thriving and some places where we need to do some work. The third resource is a book also by Michael Hyatt called Your Best Year Ever. Again in this book it shows you how to do the successful look back and then of course how to do the look ahead. You can find Michael's book over on his website or also through booksellers like Amazon or Chapters Indigo. Or you can create your own assessment and more of a combination approach using some of these questions. What did you want to happen this past year? What were some of the highlights of the year? What did you accomplish that you were most proud of? Or what was the biggest risk that you took? You can find more examples of questions to include on your look back over on the blog posts that accompanies this video. Now that you've taken this look back it's time to get to the fun stuff and that is the look ahead. If you are heading out on retreat this year and you need some sample agendas to get you started head on over to liankholderwood.com forward slash sample agendas to download something that you can edit and make your own as you head out on your own business plan retreat. And if you have done a year in review already I would love to hear how you set up your own look back. Drop your success story in the comments below. I'd love to learn what it is you're doing on your own business plan retreat. My friend whatever goal structure you have in place for your business I wish you health, happiness and prosperity in the upcoming year. Stay in touch. Bye for now.