Episode 179 - Turning Reflection into Action: Preparing for an Exceptional New Year

 Good day and welcome to The Budding Entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host, Randy Bridges. In each episode, we dive into practical business strategies that you can put to work in your business right away. 

We also focus on inspiring stories from leaders who are shaping and making things happen in their industry. It's all about giving you the tools and insights to take you and your business to the next level. So get comfortable and let's jump right in. 

All right, all right, we are on episode 179 of the podcast. Today is Friday, December 27th, 2024. Christmas was just a couple of days ago and as we wrap up our seasonal holidays, we're looking towards January the 1st, heading into 2025. 

As with most years, there are good things that happen and there are some less than good things that happen. A lot went on in 2024, a lot of major changes. Business itself has changed pretty dramatically and so we want to take an opportunity when we can to develop an attitude of gratitude, especially for the opportunity that we have coming into this year.

I want to dedicate this episode to Mr. Boo, who was my cat that we lost this past Friday. Been part of our family now for over 15 years and you know some people just say, well it's a cat, you know, and other people understand. These pets and cats and animals become part of our lives.

They set their own place, they make their own space in our world and definitely we want to make sure that we recognize that place that they hold and when it's no longer there, we really feel it. So Mr. Boo, he was born July 4th 2009 and we adopted him into our family just a couple of weeks later. He's really made a big difference in my life. 

He sat here with me for hours at Podcast Central while I was doing all of my work and he would just sit back there. Some of the people that I went through training with would see him in the videos and things, they could see him in the background hanging out, sitting on my shoulder. So this is important to me to share this because I think everybody forgets that we have a personal life as part of what we're doing here that makes our business life so worth building. 

So we're dedicating this episode to Mr. Boo. Today's episode is titled, Turning Reflection into Action, Preparing for an Exceptional New Year. This is a pickup from last week where we went through reflection and covered a lot of information. 

Today we're going to cover five major elements. Number one will be our quote of the week from Socrates. We're going back a few years for that one. 

We're going to be looking at the value of reflection, why taking time to look back at 2024 can set the stage for a powerful year ahead. We'll be looking at bridging reflection to action, how to take insights from your reflection and turn them into actionable steps. We're going to be building an action plan, creating a structured plan with goals, systems, and habits that align with our vision for 2025.

And then I'm going to be bringing some real world examples of turning some of these lessons and tools into results. As we consider all this, reflection isn't just about thinking. It's really about doing, and doing it with purpose. 

So we want to take a look at that purpose and measure it in our lives as we move forward. Let's dig into our quote of the week from Socrates, who was a foundational figure in western philosophy. He's best known for his method of questioning to stimulate critical thinking and uncover underlying truths.

Socrates once said, "An unexamined life is not worth living", which reflects his belief that self-reflection and critical examination of one's values, actions, and beliefs are essential for a meaningful and virtuous life. This principle underscores the importance of personal growth through inquiry, challenging assumptions, and striving for authenticity, which is so important here as we make our own lives better with this kind of reflection. And so his quote strongly resonates with me as we think about that not as a backward glance to dwell on mistakes, but as a tool to guide us moving forward. 

So let's talk about the value of reflection. Now we covered a little bit about it, but we have perspective. So let's move on to our key topic.

We discussed last week that reflection is like looking into a mirror, but it's not to criticize what we see, it's to understand it. When we reflect, we're searching for lessons, clarity, and pattern in our own experiences. Think back to this past year. 

What worked well for you? What didn't? What are the moments you're most proud of? And where did things go sideways? This sort of reflection isn't about beating yourself up for missteps. It's about identifying opportunities to do better. For example, let's say your business hit a plateau in Q3. 

Instead of simply acknowledging it, we want to dig deeper. Was it a lack of innovation? Did the team feel disengaged? Did you spread yourself too thin? What happened? And when we take time to analyze, to ask perspective questions, we uncover the why. Knowing the why leads to clearer paths forward. 

It gets us past the typical surface level answer of I don't know, and it moves us toward clarity of purpose. Reflection also gives us gratitude. Maybe you grew your client base by 20%, or you finally streamlined that clunky onboarding process.

Whatever it is, celebrating these wins is just as important as learning from challenges, because it fuels momentum to get us closer to where we want to go. Alright, so that's the first part. Let's now move past the questioning position, and let's talk about bridging reflection into action.

This is where the magic happens. Taking the insights from your reflection, and transforming them into tangible action steps. It's easy to reflect and think, yeah I could do better, but unless we take those thoughts and give them direction, they just remain thoughts. 

The best way I've found is to start by prioritizing what I've learned. If I can identify three key areas for improvement, maybe streamlining processes, better delegation, and more intentional client outreach, I can rank them. Which one, or ones, will have the greatest impact on my business, and those become my primary focus.

Once I've prioritized, I can break these down into manageable steps. For example, if improving delegation is a priority, and it is, my first action is to list out all of my current responsibilities, and determine which tasks should be handed off. I normally do this quarterly anyway, and it's likely you do as well. 

But this transition from reflection to action, also helps to think about potential obstacles. What might hold me back? Is it fear of letting go? Is it time constraints? You see, anticipating challenges allow me to be better equipped to handle them when they arise. It's better to have a fire extinguisher sitting in your kitchen, and not use it, than to not have it there when you absolutely are dealing with a huge fire. 

Let's bring all this together with a structured action plan. Think of this as a blueprint for success in the new year. I start with goals, not generic ones like grow the business. 

I use specific measurable goals. I do things like increase client retention by 15% in the first quarter, or I'm going to launch a new service by March 31st. I get really clear and set a time on it, because I'm capable of knowing whether I've achieved it or not, very easily. 

Once these goals are set, it's easy to tie them to systems. Now systems are what make our goals achievable. Let's say I want to increase that client retention. 

My system might include weekly check-ins with key accounts, a revamped loyalty program, or implementing better customer service training. And let's not forget habits. Big goals are accomplished through small consistent actions.

A habit could be something as simple as dedicating 30 minutes every morning to strategic planning. It might seem minor, but over time those 30 minutes compound into massive progress. One of the systems I implemented into my day came from Grant Cardone. 

It has two pages for each day. One is an adjusted type of schedule, and the other is for mental conditioning. For the schedule, it's broken down into three hour sections. 

My day starts from 6 to 9, then 9 to 12, 12 to 3, 3 to 6, and then later. This allows me the flexibility to move things within a window, rather than being locked into 30 minute or one hour segments. It also gives me flex time for deep thinking and learning. 

I can move things around. I have a big enough window that if I really want to dig in deep, I can. I have time for that.

The second page starts with daily goals. Then I get a quote of the day, which I copy from a website. Then come my targets, my successes, and finally goals for tomorrow.

By writing down the next day's goals, and this is something that Grant Cardone focused on, it allows me to get a perspective for what's important to achieve tomorrow. And writing it down again the next morning reinforces that importance while allowing for overnight adjustments. You know, in my world, a lot happens. 

Priorities can change very quickly, especially at night. So adjustments can be natural and never focused by working at this kind of a macro level. So that's my example of having a plan for action using a system. 

Since it's prompting, it serves as a form of automation to keep my perspective aligned throughout the day. And since I write it down on paper, because I'm old school, it's easy for me to go back and see what I've accomplished each week and each month. I have a system of productivity sheets that I fill every week. 

One of them leads back to the week before, one is the week ahead, and then I have one for each month as I go through. And so by having this, I can actually see what I've accomplished during the week, what I've missed, and it gives me a lot more flexibility in how I move forward. Having a well-rounded action plan is about aligning your goals, the systems, and your habits with your vision. 

When everything works together, success feels natural, not forced. So that's one form of real-world inspiration. And let me share a quick story about a client I worked with last year. 

She owned a service-based business that had been running on autopilot for years. When we started reflecting, she realized that while her revenue was steady, her passion was dwindling. She wasn't excited about the work anymore. 

Using reflection, we identified that her business no longer aligned with her values. We used that insight to pivot her offerings, to focus on projects she truly cared about, and to build a tighter team that shared her changing vision. By the end of the year, not only had her revenue increased, her enthusiasm for the business returned. 

In her case, reflection wasn't just about fixing problems. It was about reigniting her purpose. So let's recap today. 

We've explored the value of reflection, how to bridge those insights into action, and how to build a structured action plan for success. As we close 2024 and step into 2025, I feel it's important that we take time to reflect, not as a luxury, but as a necessity. If you want to make a difference, you can use this time to reset, realign, and reignite your passion for what's ahead. 

Next week, we're starting the new year strong with a topic that's all about mindset. It's called New Year, New You, Building a High-Performance Mindset for 2025. 

That's it for this episode. I hope you picked up some valuable insights and maybe even sparked a few new ideas. If you want to keep the conversation going, or maybe even explore partnerships, don't hesitate to reach out. And hey, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. 

The steps you take today could be the start of something big tomorrow. For The Budding Entrepreneur, I wish you the best in your health, your wealth, your business, your family, everything about you. Take care, and we'll see you back here next week.