Are you on track? Are you off track? Do you even know where your tracks are?

Midyear is a perfect time to look at where you’ve gone and where you’re going. Commonly, we talk about goals, goal planning and goal setting at the first of the year. And we should! Goals provide direction and motivation to get us all that we desire in business and life. The problem with goals set in January is that they are often not revised until… next January.

Why is midyear a perfect time? You have a track record and you still have time. You’ve achieved some wins in the first half of the year, which have gotten you closer to your goal. You also have time to course-correct to hit the goal by the end of year.

Now, I’ve laid down a very lofty goal on this post. I’ve said that this is the “ultimate” midyear review. What makes an ultimate midyear review is one that provides clarity on where you are toward your goal, how you got to where you’re at and what you can do to achieve the goal.

Let’s start with your goal. What is it? Make sure that it’s specific and measurable. Sell this many products, make this much money, hit this weight target, develop 3 mentor relationships with monthly meetings. If you did not start with a specific and measurable goal, revise it to be specific and measurable now.

There’s a great quote that says “a goal without a plan is a wish.” If my goal is to hit a weight target that is below where I’m at today and I don’t have a plan to do something different, then I’m simply wishing to weigh less. The plan is the how. Midyear is a great time to check in on our plans to see how we are sticking to them and what results we’re getting.

What makes a good plan? Let’s stick with the weight target theme. If your plan of action is “eat more healthy” and “workout doing strength training and cardio,” would that inform you of what to do? While it sounds good, it doesn’t quite hit the mark. You cannot measure “eating better” and “strength & cardio workouts” are a little better… yet still it doesn’t answer the all important question “What specifically will you do?”

Let’s get really detailed and really measurable. That’s how we’ll know if we’re actually working on the plan. Instead of “eat more healthy” change it to “eat a maximum of 1500 calories daily.” Change the workout plan to “workout 4 times each week for 1 hour doing a mix of cardio & strength training.” You see the difference and how this actually informs you what to do and if you’re working the plan.

When you are as perceptive as the example here, you can have the ultimate review… Ask yourself these questions: 1. Am I on track to my goal? 2. Am I following the plan? 3. Based on my results, do I a) increase my activities; b) change how I do my activities; c) add additional activities; d) stay the course?

What makes this the ultimate is that you can figure out if what you’re doing is working for you and if not, it can inform how to tweak your activities to get you results.

When we have a plan that is prescriptive, detailed and measurable, we’re actually more confident and feel more free to achieve the goals we set. Now is the time to know the track you’re on!