How to Thrive in Business Without Dwelling on the Past

It’s a new year and a time for reflection and introspection.

Or is it?

I was listening to a podcast this morning and they were talking about how important it is for a business to do a year-end review, which is basically an analytical recap of what worked and what didn’t so we can forge ahead with a fresh start armed with new insights, plans, and goals.

Um… Not me.

I’m not a backwards thinker.

I do not dwell in the past and focus too much on what didn’t happen rather than look forward to what’s possible.

I guess one would call me a forward thinker.

I used to be a lot more “in the future” than I am now. Always looking forward to what’s to come, what lies ahead and getting giddy with anticipation. But sadly, by doing this, I’d miss out on what’s going on in the present moment. I’d miss the significance of subtle moments because my head was in the clouds.

I’m happy to say I now spend most of my day being in the present, focusing on what is happening now, what I need to do now, and knowing I’ll deal with tomorrow when tomorrow comes.

But this approach has been known to backfire on me too!

For instance, when I needed to prep for our year-end billing, I completely forgot it was coming up while I was having fun being in the moment during my time off over the Christmas holidays.

But it all worked out in the end. The billing got done, albeit a couple of days late… oops!

Now, my husband Daniel is another story. He loves the past! Especially old music and movies. In fact, we often negotiate over what we’re going to watch on TV. He loves to watch reruns and I’m bored stiff seeing something twice!

This Christmas, however, I did compromise and got to watch a couple of the newer Christmas movies while he got to see, wait for it, Die Hard… for like the tenth time!

I’m pointing this out because not everyone is the same. The person on this podcast sees a big need to look at spreadsheets, analyze stats and pour over the numbers to see what can be tweaked to make a bigger impact and larger profit margin for the year to come.

And I can see a lot of benefits of doing that.

But other business owners find that kind of analysis tedious and, well, boring. And honestly, depending on the size of their business, they may not have the volume of data needed to be able to glean much insight.

So what happens when you’re in the latter camp?

Are you doomed for failure because you aren’t spending January pouring over stats and crunching numbers to come up with a game plan for the coming year?

Hardly.

There’s always a way to make things work out and build a business that best suits your style and personality.

One option is to hire the Yin to your Yang.

If you’re a visionary, you can hire or partner with a details person to dive into those stats for you. They live for this kind of stuff!

On the other hand, if you’re already the details person, you might be spending too much time in analysis mode and not enough creating and building so beware of that too! You might want to hire or partner with someone who can help with the creative thinking to prevent your business from getting stagnant.

For me, I take a slightly different approach.

My strategy is to do the analysis all year long. (I am much more of a details person than a visionary after all.) I continually keep my finger on the pulse of our operations and make subtle changes as we move forward.

Sometimes those changes don’t make much of a difference, whereas others, such as working with my team to incorporate AI into our daily operations, can mean a significant shift in our business strategy.

So the next time you listen to someone telling you how you “should” be running your business, I encourage you to take into account that they are speaking from their own experience as well as their own personal style.

Listen to what they have to say and come up with an approach that works for you. I’m not saying to ignore these kinds of business needs, but how you grow and evolve can be implemented in a way that works for you.

What about you? Are you someone who analyzes the books each year to see what changes could or should be made or do you evolve throughout the year? What’s your approach?

About the Author, Susan Friesen

Located in the lower mainland of B.C., Susan Friesen is a visionary brand strategist, entrepreneur, and founder of British Columbia’s premiere boutique web development and digital marketing agency, eVision Media.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, she is an expert in helping businesses establish their online presence and create a strong brand identity.

Her passion for empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners to succeed in the digital world has earned her a reputation as a leading authority in the branding and marketing industry.

---

Visit www.BrandIdentitySteps.com and download your FREE guide: "Unlocking Customer Trust and Business Growth: Your 7-Step Guide to Defining a Compelling Brand Identity that Appeals to Your Perfect Clients".