My Monthly CEO Day
The first year of freelancing and having my own business could best be described as: messy, scary & exciting. As much as it felt like throwing myself out of a plane without a parachute, it was thrilling and I loved it. There were times where I felt like I was flying and others where I had no idea why I had signed myself up for it. For the low times, I was clear I needed to find a way to remind myself why. It’s become to clear to me since then, that hard work is rarely the issue, it’s thinking that the hard work isn’t worth it that makes it difficult. As long as we find ways to remind ourselves the reason for the hard work and keep the vision in mind, motivation hardly becomes a concern because it’s our sense of purpose that drives us.
I was inspired by @victoriabauman to develop a monthly CEO day practice. This practice includes taking the first Monday of the month as an opportunity to reconnect with my mission, vision & values, and make sure that I’m on the right track. It involves looking back over the previous month, and planning ahead for the future months.
Before going through with your monthly CEO day, make sure that the core of your business (Mission, Vision, Personal Objectives, Activities) is rock solid. If you’re new to this and want to start back from square one, I recommend you work through my Building Your Business Bedrock Workbook. For the price of a latte you could have the core of your business crystal clear.
STEP ONE: Get into a good headspace
On your CEO Day, start by doing whatever makes you feel GOOD. On this day I take extra time for my morning routine, give myself 10 minutes for meditation and allow my body to sink deep into it’s morning stretches. This allows me to focus inwards. I make myself a green juice, get comfortably settled at my desk with the Lo-Fi Beats Spotify playlist, and I’m ready to go.
STEP TWO: Time for a Check-In
It’s time to get to it. Here’s my template of what I do:
1.0 Visualization
What does my future look like?
Here I close my eyes, take a few deep breaths and then write down anything that comes to mind. Some months I write the specifics of how I spend my morning, what I specifically work on, who my clients are and what specific projects I’m working on. Other months I write down how I feel when I wake up, how I feel during the day, the impact I have and how I feel when my head hits the pillow at night.
2.0 Reevaluation
During this section I go through each of the 5 pillars of my Business Bedrock (if yours are not yet crystal clear, get my Build Your Business Bedrock Guide for the price of a coffee).
In the Reevaluation Section, I go through each pillar and I make any tweaks and changes that feel right. The traditional old-school business plan suggests that your mission & vision never changes. This approach suggests that nothing is fixed in time. The world evolves and changes with time, you evolve and change with time, and so should your business. Of course you want to keep consistency, however feel free to change the wording, change the emphasis and add or remove anything that you feel might be keeping you tied down to an old mindset.
Mission: does this speak to me?
Vision: does this speak to me?
Core Values: do they speak to me?
Feeling objectives: do they speak to me?
Core Activities: any changes? Any activities to add or remove?
3.0 Core Questions
1. What did I achieve last month?
2. What did I not achieve last month?
3. What has taken up most of my time last month? Was it coherent with my mission? Did it work towards my vision? Was it in line with my values?
4. What have I done that has brought me closer to each of my feeling objectives?
5. What did I learn last month?
6. Organization: what tools worked last month, and which ones didn’t?
7. Where am I at financially? Does anything need to change?
8. What are my objectives for next month?
9. How do these objectives relate to my mission?
Go through each objective you set yourself for the next month, and write down exactly how each one of these relates your mission.
10. How do these objectives lead me to my vision?
Go through each objective you set yourself for the next month, and write down exactly how each one of these relates your vision.
11. Which values are being followed through with these objectives?
Go through each objective you set yourself for the next month, and write down exactly which of your values are you focusing on with each individual objective.
12. Which Core Activity do these objectives include?
Go through each objective you set yourself for the next month, and write down exactly which core activity or activities are being followed through with each objective. This might give you a better understanding of which activity you’re currently prioritizing.
13. How will I use what I learned last month to achieve my objective?
4.0 Questions Bank:
Pick 3 questions below and be honest with yourself. If a question feels challenging, if a question feels intimidating, don’t pick a different one, instead face it head on. It means there’s something that you need to dig into. Take some time over these questions. When you come to a conclusion, don’t let it be, ask yourself why exactly and keep digging.
When have I let myself down this month and what did I learn?
Where have I seen a breakthrough?
When have I pushed myself out of my comfort zone this month?
What’s one aspect of my business where I’m killing it at the moment?
Have I gotten enough support this month? What can I do about it?
Rate my work balance. Does this need to change? If yes, how will I do it?
Rate my chaos - order balance. Does this need to change? If yes, how will I do it?
What have I done this month to refill my inspiration tank?
Which Core Activity has made me feel most inspired this month?
What am I doing right now that’s not in line with my values?
Did I receive any positive feedback or encouragement that I want to remember?
What’s one little thing I can do right now to realign myself with my vision
What’s something that I’ve been avoiding that I need to deal with?
Am I saying yes to anything that isn’t a HELL YES?
What part of my identity can I admit may no longer be serving me?
Am I practicing what I preach?
In what ways do I consider ‘I’m not deserving or worthy’ to achieve what I want to achieve?
In what areas do I need to learn or further develop my skills in order to bring my business one step further?
What drains my energy and in what ways can I change it?
In what areas am I so desperately longing for an outcome that it’s preventing me from enjoying the journey?
5.0 What’s your mantra for the month?
After all the above, you will most probably have found a reoccurring theme. Maybe something you really want to focus on next month, something you’ve been ignoring that you need to change, or a specific way in which you want to realign yourself with your vision. Summarize it all with one sentence, and allow that to be your mantra for the month.
STEP THREE: FOCUS ON YOUR FINANCES
This is the part where I put my finances to-date, I file my expense receipts, pay my bills etc. When you have your own business, the financial part can be a bit scary. Something I’ve learned is that there is nothing scarier that the unknown. When you stare at your financial situation head on, that’s when you can take responsibility for where you’re at and do something. Nothing is worse than feeling powerless, and as we all know, knowledge is power.
STEP FOUR: LONG TERM, MED TERM & SHORT TERM GOALS
Lastly I take a step back and look at my high-level goals. I have these listed out in a table like the one below. Of course the activities column will depend on your particular business or area of work. You might have only one activity or you might want to use this as a way to plan your goals beyond work (ex.: column 1 career, column 2 family life, column 3 finances etc.) You can also change the time frame for short, medium, long-term goals.
I hope you enjoyed the guide above. If you join in every first Monday of the month to also do your own Monthly CEO Day, let me know by tagging me on Instagram @victoriasardain.
P.S. the term CEO Day was coined by Leadership Coach Victoria Bauman. I’ve been inspired by her monthly check-ins to adapt it and create my own method which is the above.
I hope this practice gives you clarity, motivation and direction you need in order to be the best version of yourself, and wake up every morning knowing what you’re working towards and why.