It’s June, halfway through the year. I love summer for the chance to play a bit more. But before I go into the play zone, let’s do a mid-year check-in. This doesn’t have to take long. Enjoy a glass of lemonade or tea and check in on your year so far.
Doing this kind of reflection process helps to:
- see if you are on track with your priorities
- surprise yourself with all the wonderful, unexpected things that have happened
- celebrate how much you’ve already accomplished
- prepare for the next part of the year
I love my mind maps, and here’s another way to use them as a project management tool.
In January, I did a quarterly mind map of my major projects. The focus for this map is my art and art business. I laid out the known projects for each quarter. I don’t use goals as much as a focus on projects and intention. You can see in the middle of my map is my focus for my art this year – Make and Sell Things.
Additional notes:
There’s not a lot on Q4, leaving room to grow and also to have room in case some of the earlier projects aren’t complete by the last quarter.
The 100 Day Project and subsequent show weren’t on the map at the beginning of the year. This is turning out to be one of the best things of the year, and I am glad I made room for it.
I later added a goal of $10,000 or more gross income from art sales. I thought I was halfway there, but doing this review forced me to look up the numbers. So far I’ve earned over $8,000 in art sales this year. It’s exciting to feel that I’m going to surpass my art income goal this year! This is a huge confidence booster and a good reason to do the review in itself!
When I revisited this, I added some things and relished that I seem to be on track with my art goals. Time for some coconut milk ice cream to celebrate!
A few coaching questions for you to reflect on your year to date:
- What was the focus of your year?
- What has helped you stay committed to your focus?
- What unexpected surprises happened?
- What’s your focus for the rest of the year?
Have you done your mid-year review? What did you learn from it?
Let us know in a comment below, and if this was helpful for you, please share with your friends!