Recently we had our monthly Focus + Priorities call inside The Clearing where we looked back over the past month and set direction for the next. 

When I first sat down to design that call, one thing that felt really important to me was understanding why we hadn’t done what we said we would do. Not from a place of judgement or shame, but to actually understand the roadblocks that get in the way of following through on our plans.

But after the very first call, I immediately realised something was missing. By focusing on what hadn’t got done and why, we were completely missing out on what did.

Because here’s the thing.

The people I work with are nearly always productive. They are always doing something, even if it’s not what they originally planned. Sometimes that’s navigating life or health challenges. Often it’s other meaningful work inside their business. That might, for example, look like not completing your marketing tasks because you were fully focused on serving your existing clients well.

Also by ignoring the wins, we miss the fact that sometimes something we planned to do one month actually got done a month or two later. The follow-through was there but our expectations of how long it would take were just off. 

When you only look at what didn’t get done, you ignore the progress you have made. And for most of the people I work with, myself included, that inability to see our own progress is the norm. We move through our weeks doing real, meaningful work and dealing with life and we barely pause to register what we have accomplished before we’re already berating ourselves for where we still haven’t got to. 

So I added a wins section to the call. Not as a warm-up or a formality but as a crucial part of the work. Because I’ve found that if you try to look honestly at what stalled, without first anchoring into evidence of what moved, the whole thing tips into self-criticism very quickly. You absolutely need both. The wins without the honest look at what didn’t happen can feel like denial. The roadblocks without the wins can feel like deflating to say the least.

For me, the call has now become an opportunity to take an important and honest look at my business progress, month on month. Something I’ve always known was important but that now has a proper space in my schedule. 

If you want to try the wins reflection yourself, here are the questions we use:

What went well last month?

Where did I show up well, even if the result was imperfect?

What feels stronger, clearer, or more aligned than before?

And then the question I find changes everything:

What does this remind me about my capacity?

When you have real evidence of your own follow-through, it becomes much harder to convince yourself that nothing is moving.

As you look back on the past month, remember this: You did more than you think. I guarantee it.