If you are ready to make some changes in your work or your life the following questions are a great starting point. Set aside some time for yourself without distractions- sit under a tree outside, or in a coffee shop or in a comfortable chair with a pad…

Look at yourself

• Are you satisfied with your career?
• Are you applying your full potential?
• Are you stimulated socially, mentally, and physically?
• Are you living your values?
• What if you applied more of your full potential in one of these areas? What differences would you expect? What if your employees did?

Where are you trying to get to long-term?

• Where do you want to be in 5, 10, 25 years?
• How do you define success?
• What does your ideal day look like?
• What trends are now occurring in your industry or in the marketplace that will impact your business, not just today or tomorrow, but years from now?
• What’s different about the markets you serve and the markets served by your customers?
• What will be different tomorrow?
• How can these changes influence the products and services you offer?

What are you doing right now?

• What are your priorities?
• Do you have a plan to increase productivity? Improve time management?
• Are you moving forward on your long-term goals?

Look at your business

• Is your organization easy to do business with?
• Do you understand your customer’s needs, wants, and expectations? Once you do, you have the ability to structure your company so that you have a true competitive advantage.
• What do your employees care about? What are their long-term goals? What do they value?

What does the outsider see?

Ask questions to see how you (or your company) is viewed from the outside:

• What do our clients think about us?
• Why do our customers buy from us and not the competition?
• What is going on in the world and how might it impact how we need to do business?
• What is really going on inside?

After you have gone through this exercise your initial thinking may benefit from sharing your thinking with a neutral party who has your best interest at heart.

If you are looking for an experienced coach to talk to- I welcome your inquires.

Author: Helene Mazur

Helene is the founder of Princeton Performance Dynamics, an executive coaching and strategic planning facilitation company for business and non-profit leaders and their teams. Helene’s passion is helping her clients to focus their goals, see new perspectives on their current situation, put in place realistic, motivating plans, and execute to achieve new levels of success.

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