Many of us spend these last weeks of the year reviewing the good, the bad and the neutral of the past 12 months, and nailing down what we’ll be up to in the balmy months of next summer if everything rolls out according to plan.

Crunching numbers and projecting profit is great, but if you’re not tapping into the introspection that’s so close to the surface this time of year you’re wasting a valuable opportunity to create the big-

picture clarity that drives your long-term growth and supports your own happiness.

To take advantage of this opportunity and make this clarity a business priority, we need to dedicate time and energy to our own Year-End Review. (This means actually scheduling into your calendar at least two blocks of uninterrupted time to dig in.) Whether your review process is structured or free flowing, the goal is to unlock clarity-creating questions that both unsettle and empower. What do I love to do – am I doing it? What’s underneath it all – are my actions serving it? Who do I align myself with to get this out there – am I with these people or do I need to make changes?

For me, this is the hard work of the business soul. It’s creating true clarity around what I’m all about. Far from self-indulgence (though more on that one next week!), this is time for us to reflect on how we’re truly doing, as women who choose to run our own businesses and to guide our own lives.The core of the year-end review is getting clear on the work you love doing, naming the values driving that work, and recognizing the right people to connect with to carry out your dreams. This is the heavy lifting that directs you through launches, development flows and stalls, and evolving your team.

It should come as no surprise that I have a process for year-end review, to put the clarity gained from this valuable reflective time to work for my best self – and my best business. This isn’t my usual formal system for time tracking or complex project management, but I’ve tried to breakdown what I do to create the clarity I literally build my business around.

Phase I: Evening

Task 1: Pour generous glass of red wine
Task 2: Cozy up on couch (Sweatpants? check!)
Task 3: Get out my Planner Pad.  If you remember, I use this tool to keep an ongoing record of my ideas – whether they be blog concepts, packaging structures, what’s working/what’s not lists, wish lists, and goals.  Taking the time to read through it in its entirety allows me the opportunity to review what I had in mind along the way to ensure that, at the end of the year, I feel really good about the work that I did, and I have an even better understanding of how to best move in to the new year (shipping is free for the next few days, feel free to use this code – fs14tky).

Then I take a breather – for a day, or up to a week.

Phase II: Daytime

Task 4: Steep generous mug of tea
Task 5: Review clarifications, asking direct questions: How does this fit with where I am in my business? Am I on track, do my days tap into what I love doing, are my actions advancing my values and goals, am I connected to the people who will help me move forward? What needs to be maintained, tweaked, tested or changed completely to get on track?
Task 6:  Run all of the numbers (cancel ineffective subscriptions (perhaps invest in one that will help grow my business), schedule renewal conversations with clients (and offer them new pricing/and or deliverables if necessary), review my calendar (and release obligations that aren’t bringing me joy), and fill in my team (I believe in transparency).

I don’t turn this clarity into a set of marching orders for my year to come. I keep it in mind when it comes to strategizing and to making tough calls. It acts as a touchstone for me so I know where my track is, what it feels like when I’m on it, and how I come home when I’ve gone astray.

Image via Javier Morales.