How to Review Your Midyear Progress with Business Goals

Does the thought of conducting a midyear review of your business goals leave you feeling less than inspired?

Are you looking for a creative way to take stock of what’s happening in your business at the halfway mark of the year?

Business goals are desired outcomes that fall within traditional business activities and engagements. These goals can be either big or small, simple or complex, singular or multiple, but are in some way related to the overall success of the business.

Reviewing business goals can sometimes feel a bit intimidating, especially if you haven’t yet reached your goals or are trailing far behind them.

That’s why it can be helpful to give yourself a personalized professional reason for recommitting to these goals for the better, instead of simply reviewing goals and making adjustments.

In this article, you’ll learn why you should review your business goals midyear and how reviewing your goals can improve your productivity levels.

You’ll learn how to use six months of valuable real-work experience to your advantage through a practical three-step process. This creative approach to reviewing your goals can make your midyear review both memorable and productive.

Before we get started, if you want a simple daily structure to help you prioritize your work, my free Productivity Mindset Planner™ is a good place to start.

Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

What are business goals?

Business goals are desired outcomes that fall within the realm of traditional business activities and engagements. These goals can be either big or small, simple or complex, singular or multiple, but are in some way related to the overall success of the business.

A business goal might be categorized under any one or more of the following business departments: operations, finance and accounting, clients and customers, human resources, marketing, operations, production, research and development, and sales.

Why should you review your business goals midyear?

You should review your business goals midyear for several key reasons:

Allows you to evaluate your overall progress

Evaluating your overall progress now allows you to make timely adjustments that might have otherwise been overlooked, irreversible or uncorrectable in future.

Helps consolidate disparate details and information

Consolidating disparate details and information allows you to make connections to previously unrelated or otherwise unconsidered areas of your business.

Make informed decisions from updated information

Making business and work decisions with the most up-to-date and recent information is more valuable than working with outdated information from six months ago.

Provides an opportunity to adjust long-term plans

Adjusting long-terms plans may be necessary if you’ve already reached or are falling behind in your goals. You can create new goals or redouble your efforts as necessary.

Promotes a sense of motivation and determination

Lastly, reviewing your goals can help provide you with a boost of motivation and determination to recommit to working towards your goals.

What type of businesses should review their business goals midyear?

All types of businesses, no matter their industry or size, should review their business goals midyear at a minimum. Doing so allows you to gauge your overall progress over the past several months, make necessary adjustments, and update plans for the future.

And if you really want to stay on top of your goals, you should review your business goals on a more frequent basis. Ideally, this should range from a daily, weekly, monthly, to quarterly basis to help you stay focused and on track. The key is choosing a sustainable frequency level that allows you stay informed and on top of your work.

How does reviewing your business goals improve your productivity?

Reviewing your business goals can help improve your overall productivity levels because it requires you to evaluate which actions help you move closer to, or further away from your goals.

Reviewing your business goals can help you:

• Eliminate unnecessary or wasteful activities in your schedule
• Streamline your meetings and appointments for efficiency
• Prioritize your daily to-dos and tasks in a more efficient manner
• Cut out distractions, interruptions and unsolicited requests from your routine
• Set boundaries in your schedule so you have time and energy to focus on business goals
• Ensure you get sufficient rest and relaxation time so you have energy to work during the weekday
• Inspire and motivate yourself to actively work towards your goals

If you’ve been struggling with time management for longer than you’d like to admit, The Order Expert’s Guide to Time Management™ eBook helps you manage your calendar, overcome procrastination, and develop a healthier relationship with time from the inside out.

When should you hold your review session?

You should plan on holding your review session sometime between mid-June and mid-July. Choose a date and time when you’ll be both physically and mentally available to do the work. There’s little sense in holding a review session if you’ll be distracted during the process!

Depending on what you’re going to review in your business, plan on scheduling at least ninety minutes for yourself in your calendar. Ideally, you’ll want to have this session be uninterrupted so you can focus on your work. Look for a chunk of time in your schedule where you won’t be rushing to or from meetings or appointments.

If you need to, you can break up your review sessions into smaller chunks of time. Be sure to schedule these times into your calendar. You should also make sure you take plenty of notes and jot down reminders for yourself so you can easily pick up where you left off.

How to hold a successful review session

Holding a successful review session is all about creating practical and supportive environment for yourself to review and evaluate your goals and make updated plans.

The key isn’t to rush through the process, but rather to slow down and intentionally apply thought and consideration to your business as a whole.

Here’s a quick checklist you can use to help you plan for a successful review session:

• A copy of your business goals for the current year
• Copy or access to your daily schedule or calendar
• Copy of project or assignment plans for your business
• Notebook and pen and/or your favorite digital note taking device
• Temporarily silence or disable notifications on your devices (if possible)
• Wear noise-canceling headphones or earbuds to reduce distractions
• Close your office or workspace door for privacy
• Book an available conference room or workstation
• Ask others not to disturb you during your review time
• Your preferred hot or cold beverage of your choice

How to review your midyear progress with business goals

Now that you’ve got a good backgrounder on the above, how should you review your midyear progress with business goals?

As a productivity expert, I created the following format to help you gain more insight into reviewing your goals.

This is a fun and creative process that goes beyond, “Did I reach my goal?” Instead, it’s about bringing light to all the little things that happened along the way of working towards that goal. In essence, it’s smarter goal setting.

Step 1. Ask yourself what you won’t ever do again in your business

You’ve had a glorious six whole months to experiment, dabble, research, act, and respond to situations in your business. And you’ve probably had some setbacks.

Carefully think about this for a moment. What missteps have you made or experiences have you had that have left an indelible mark in your memory?

The idea here is to get really raw. Knowing what you know now, what arrangements, situations, attitudes, and scenarios will you no longer tolerate in your business?

This can be anything and everything, from poor client relationships and wobbly operational tools to shoddy meeting protocols.

What to do: Use your calendar, schedule, or project management software or notes to help jog your memory for these challenging moments. Jot down a handful of situations that stand out in your memory on paper or in a digital device.

Step 2. Identify three key takeaways from that experience

You most likely went through some sort of discomfort over the past several months.

But exactly why was the experience so abhorrent? Don’t be afraid to dig deep to uncover the source(s) of your discontent.

Was there an aspect of this experience that wasn’t within your direct control?

Perhaps there was an action you took that you now regret?

Or maybe there was an action you wish you had taken months ago?

Now that you’ve taken a moment to reflect upon things, it’s time to review your past experiences in relation to your goals.

How can these past experiences help advance your goals? What valuable lessons can you apply toward reinforcing your goals?

For instance, let’s say your goal was to select a productivity tool for your business.

Perhaps you picked a tool at random, or relied on a tip from an acquaintance, and didn’t select the right tool for your needs.

You’d most likely want to change your approach toward your making such choices.

What to do: Imagine you have a magic wand that transports you back to that challenging time. Knowing what you know now, what decisions and actions would you take?

Step 3. Rewrite your goals with a reframed approach

Take a look at your existing goals. Taking your past experiences into account, how can you rewrite a better goal guideline for yourself?

More likely than not, your approach either will be a complete 180-degree shift or a slight adjustment to your initial plans.

From the example above, you might decide that, in order to reach your goal of finding a suitable productivity tool, you’ll catalog your business’s needs, conduct thoughtful research, and carefully evaluate a tool.

If you’d like, you can turn your goals into a statement, something like: “I learned these [three valuable lessons] this first half of the year, and I’m choosing to apply these [three rewritten actions] for the rest of the year to help me reach my goals.”

Now that you’ve taken the time to review your past experiences, you can take targeted action toward reaching your goals for the year.

What to do: Try rewriting your goals on paper or on screen. First, write the lesson and the result. Next, write the rewritten action and the desired outcome you’d like to help you better focus on your goals.

How to make the most of your review session

If you really want to make the most of your review session, you should gather what you’ve learned and transfer those goals to your daily to-dos.

Here’s a simple guide to help you:

Clearly identify your business goals

Clearly identify the details of your business goals. Use the SMART goal method to set your goals and help you flesh out the specifics. Ask yourself how do the goals specifically relate to your business right now?

Break down your goals into smaller steps

Break down your business goals into smaller, more defined steps. Feel free to separate a goal into different stages such as research, action, evaluation, review, and decision-making.

Schedule tasks into your to-do list

Schedule each task directly into your daily to-do list or project management system. This ensures you’ll have both the time and space in which to do your work and take one step closer towards your goals.

FAQ: Business goals

Conclusion

Reviewing your business goals helps you stay focused, up-to-date, and motivated when you’re actively working towards your goals. Reaching your goals isn’t always a straight shot; there are many twists and turns that are naturally part of the process of running a business. What truly matters is that you review your status and make adjustments on a regular basis.

Paying careful attention to your business goals can go a long way in directing which tasks you’ll work on on any given workday. If you want to think differently about productivity in your business everyday, then grab my free Productivity Mindset Planner™. If you’re ready to go deeper about how you think about time and work, my eBook, The Order Expert’s Guide to Time Management™ is a good place to start.

A version of this article previously appeared on Inc.com.

Rashelle Isip Productivity Coach and Founder of The Order Expert®

Rashelle Isip is a New York City-based productivity coach, consultant, and founder of The Order Expert®. With over 16 years of experience, she helps entrepreneurs and executives replace the "hustle and grind" mindset with one of "ease and flow." Rashelle is a former contributing columnist for Inc.com and Lifehack.org, and has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, NBC News, The Washington Post, and NPR. She is the author of four books, including The Order Expert’s Guide to Time Management. When not helping clients master their schedules, she enjoys scouting for practical, well-designed office supplies. Learn more at TheOrderExpert.com.

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