I have been taking some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas to do some reflecting. As tempting as it can be as a business owner to jump into brainstorming new goals and initiatives for next year, I am doing these three things first (and I encourage you to do the same):

#1: Pause: Take a few minutes each day to pause, breathe, and check in with yourself. What’s on your mind? How you are feeling physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?

#2: Ponder: Take one or more larger chunks of time to reflect on this past year. What has been your biggest accomplishment? Most impactful contribution? Most rewarding or meaningful activity? Most draining activity? Biggest challenge (and what did you learn from it)?

#3: Prune: Which activities might you stop doing or cut back on? When you prune activities, you create space for new things to emerge and grow.