Looking ahead...what do you want 2012 to be about?

Looking back on 2011, I feel I’ve achieved a lot this year. I’m not telling you that to be smug, self-satisfied, or an annoying you-know-what!

I’m telling you, because I started off 2011 feeling fed-up, lacking direction and basically a bit lost. And I want to share with you how I managed to turn things around, incase you’re feeling like that.

Here are the key actions I took, that helped me to end the year feeling a lot more sorted than I did at the start:

1. I admitted that I was stuck, and needed help

2. I invested in myself – both in terms of time (to think, and study), and money (bought books, courses and went to a couple of conferences too)

3. I worked hard at getting things right – e.g. kicking bad habits and picking  up some (good) new ones

Doing this helped me to:

- Get clear on what my true strengths and passions are
- Identify how I could use these strengths to serve others AND myself
- Work out what I want my life to be about – how I want to feel from day-to-day
- Work out what actions I needed to take to achieve the above
- Put a concrete plan in place for generating revenue

Now I’m not saying that despite achieving all this, I have a huge amount to show for it. It’s not like I’ve finished 2011 with hundreds of thousands in the bank (I wish!). But I do have a clear blueprint of where I am going from here, and strong foundations in place for 2012.

I know there’s no point in dwelling on the past, and that you’re only as good as the work you do today. But I really think that reviewing what’s happened and thinking about where you want to go next, is crucial for any creative business. And of course, it’s important to be honest with yourself.

So with no further ado – here are the templates I used for my own 2011 review. Click here to download them, and feel free to use them as the start point for your own exercise. I really think it’s worth doing, and helps get you in the right mindset for 2012.

Take a look and let me know what you think – feel free to share them too, that would be great! I’ll continue to share some of my key learnings and insight throughout the week, including where I’ve gone wrong – as well as what’s gone right.

PS – as you’ve read this far, I’m assuming you might be starting to think about your goals and what you want to achieve next year? If so, make sure you check out my Handmade Horizons marketing e-course. It’s starting in January 2012, and enrolment is open now! Hop over to the Handmade Horizons website to take a look. Thanks again for reading, and hope to hear from you soon! Claire x

**Photo by Rightee over on Flickr – thanks a lot!**