As we move into the end of the year, many times there's a furious focus on assessing our progress. Even this year, with all it has brought, I see many of the same messages I see year after year.

Review your 2020 accomplishments! Which goals have you SLEIGHed by this Christmas? Celebrate ALL your HUGE successes!

I’m all for reflecting over the past year, and for celebrating success. Yet, especially when your business is still developing, there are moments in growing and marketing your business, when it can seem like nothing is working quite how you want it to.

Maybe you’ve been posting your content with pretty good regularity, and yet, people don’t seem to be engaging with your content in the way you’d imagined.

Or maybe launched a new program this year, and there wasn’t the response you’d hoped for. Perhaps it wasn’t even close. You can’t help but think that all the work you put into developing it feels like it was for nothing.

Or perhaps life has been showing up – hello 2020! – making it tough for you to market in any way that’s consistent….

When you look at all you have left to do to grow your business and compare it to where you thought you'd be at the end of the year, it might feel like a big gap. And all the focus on the end of year business ‘hitting our targets’ messaging can be disheartening.

Especially when everything you'd hoped would happen by now hasn't quite happened yet.

Two Messages

If this sounds like something you’ve been feeling, you're not alone. I've had more than a few coaches, healers or other creatives tell me this lately. And, today, I’ve got two really, really important things I want to share with you.

First, please don’t give up. Please. Stay steady. It takes time to develop and grown your business. There's no formula or exact timetable, despite ALL the marketing to coaches, healers and creatives trying to tell you otherwise.

What's important is:

This world needs you to bring your unique voice, your message and your gifts and talents to light.

There are so many people that need your help and healing, now more than ever, and I want you to know that you can do this. You can make your business work.

And second, I invite you to remember your why.

What’s your purpose? Why are you here, trying to build a soul-based business? Why are you trying to get your message out in the first place?

• Are you here to help people reclaim their essential self so they can find joy in their career again?

• Are you here to guide people to seek their own spiritual truth?

• Are you here to help others find their purpose?

• Are you here to help business owners create an amazing business plan?

Maybe you're not quite clear on the specifics yet. That's ok, but my hunch is you feel a calling to help heal and transform in some way. That's your why for now, and it's so, so needed. Remembering your why is a powerful antidote to feeling a bit dispirited about the stage your business is in, especially at the end of the year.

Shifting Your Focus

In all the year-end noise that's often out there, instead of just assessing your business and doing a standard year in review, I recommend shifting your focus to help you reframe this moment entirely.

Here’s one easy, powerful process to help do that. You'll need a pen, your journal and a bit of uninterrupted quiet time to get started.

1. Recall

   Think back to someone you’ve helped in the last few months. It could be with something big or small, something that others know about or not. It could be connected to your business, or not. It could be something you were paid for, or not. All that matters is that you helped this person.

   Now, remember connecting with that person and how you felt in the moment when you were helping them. Get specific – how did you feel in your body? What were your emotions?

   Next, let anything that person shared with you about their experience wash over you.

   For example: I answered a post in a Facebook group where someone, let's call her Renee, had a question about some relationship trouble she was having. She was getting conflicting advice, and I stepped in to steer her clear and shared a bit about my own personal experience with a similar situation. I felt really pulled to answer her, and felt a sea of calm inside me as I responded.

2. Write

   Now grab your journal, set a timer for at least 10 minutes and write down exactly comes to you after this prompt:

   What I loved most about this moment was:

   Let yourself go, write stream of consciousness, welcoming anything that comes to you.

   For example: What I loved most about this moment was how easy it was for me to answer Renee. I could really feel the problem she was sharing and how confused she must be by all the differing opinions. I just put Renee in front of my heart, sat down at the keyboard and the words seemed to flow. Renee was so, so thankful, she posted her thanks in the group but also DM'd me. I felt warm and fuzzy the whole day

3. Consider

   Next, consider a challenge you’re facing in your business, one that's likely to be with you as you head into the end of the year and start the new year. Maybe with your marketing, your programs or some other aspect of your business building.  

   For example: I have a day job and I don't have much time to spend on my business. This is something that has made marketing difficult in the past.

4. Write Again

   Now, pick up your pen again, and set your timer for at least 10 minutes. Imagine for a moment that you are speaking to the person you mention above. Bring them to your mind’s eye and imagine you're going to tell them what’s been going on for you.

   Now create a written dialogue about your challenge and see if you can hear what they have to say. Try to capture in writing what they are telling you.

   For example: Renee, I've got something I want your opinion on

   --Sure, go ahead.

   Well, I have a day job and it's hard sometimes.

   -What do you mean? What's hard?

   It's hard to find time to market…

   If you get stuck, and can't hear anything, be patient, keep them in your mind's eye, and wait for their response.

5. Connect

   Once you are done with the writing exercise, review what you’ve written in your dialogue, looking to discover any fresh connections or insights about your challenge. Note those down as well, relishing for a moment stepping into an alternative point of view.

As we move toward the end of the year, moving your attention from 'where your business is at' to 'why your business your business matters' in this way, is a powerful way to reconnect with your why. And it can help you gain unique insight on something that matters to you and your business for the coming year.

Now, that's something definitely worth celebrating.