I’m going to teach you how I do my monthly report and why it matters.

Hint: If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels in your business + life, this is an easy place to start for perspective, clarity, & direction that’s FREE—no hundreds of dollars to a coach or strategist.

Enjoy the story.

Alright, so this is a part of a series.

• 041—7 Symptoms of Business Self-Sabotage


• 042—The Magic of Metrics

Today’s the Mega Monthly Report on Business + Life

There’s 2 more episodes coming that I’ll tell you about at the end.

The backstory:

At the end of the year, seeing everyone’s year in photos + reflection writings always gives me FOMO. I wanna participate too!

So in December 2018, when I sat down to reflect on my own year, I seriously thought I’d blacked out. I couldn’t remember very much when I was on the spot thinking about it.

What bothered me was that I hadn’t really documented the unfolding story… I don’t mean make pictures, but I mean really recording the highs, the lows, the events, the milestones, the day-to-day, my own emotions + growth—which is ironic, because I’m a documentarian by nature, right?

If history repeats itself, isn’t it a good idea to pay attention to all of this just enough to keep the lessons we learned fresh?

It’s how we can course-correct or do more of what’s working. You have to see it first.

Luckily, I’d used some day-to-day tools, which I’ll tell you about later, that helped fill in some of the details and I ended up writing my own end of the year review. 

But the feeling of basically arriving at the end of the year like I’d missed 2018 was so big that I committed to myself to do better. Have you ever felt that way?

Hell maybe you feel like you can’t even remember last week, like I do?

We’re moving so damn fast that frequent, intentional pauses to look at what’s quickly becoming our history are a valuable part of self-care.

So, since January, I’ve been doing a monthly report and publishing it on the F&F Journal.

January – March are linked to in the Show Notes Links below.

Now, these are insanely long. I don’t know if anyone actually reads them, but it’s not about content for the site. It’s for me.

I’ll be honest, this takes me a few hours to do, but I honestly feel it’s worth every minute. If you want to do this, you can pick & choose what you record too.

It’s a growing business + life log for ME to look back at. In turn, it’s helped:

• process emotions: to let some stuff go, to savor the magic in the month


• and give direction on where to go next.

It’s been really cool to look back at what was happening—especially like how December was rough—and seeing how far I / we’ve come.

My Challenge for You:

So, does this sound like something at least worth trying?

If you’re listening to this as it’s been published, we’re mid-March. You’ve got a couple weeks left of the month.

So, do this:

1. Ease into this. Dip your toes in.


2. Focus on the next 2 weeks.


3. Set some simple intentions, so that at the end of the month, you can do your own report and set yourself up for April.


4. Publish your report on your website, so I can read it! Email it to me or tag me in on IG.

Here’s The How:

As I’m recording this, I’m working on my February Results & March Intentions and am sharing how I’m doing the report as I go.

Step 1: First, without looking at your intentions, review how you’re feeling in general.

Whatever comes up first: go with that.

For me, right now:

I’m fully enjoying the podcast. The conversations that go on while recording + before & after are so enriching to my spirit. I don’t have coffee dates, I don’t know anyone here yet, so this is like the next, best thing. I’m grateful that I’ve creating a business model where I get to do host the IDP.

The hourglass is moving quick: My kids will be out of school “soon” for summer. Goal: Have a teacher’s work schedule. No-work summers and still make an income. The question on my mind: What do I need to do from now through May?

Why this matters: If we just rollover what didn’t get done, we risk missing some big things we need to consider.

Step 2: Re-read last month’s “what’s on your heart?” to reflect on the growth or what’s derailed you.

For me:

Last month I was feeling a surge of awareness & feeling awake, I was more involved in TPP as it’s opened back up again.

This month, I feel a richer sense of clarity on how I serve. I’d posted on IG how I feel like I’m exiting the photography community & the truth is that I don’t know what community I belong to. It’s all felt isolating and liberating at the same time. Maybe I’m making my own community? Idk.

I’m also not sure why this identity definition matters, but I tend to come back to it nonetheless. No one cares besides me, but I do need to better articulate WHO I help / serve and how, so I think that’s part of it. It doesn’t feel like a clear answer yet, but getting closer.

I’ve helped several people with grief as per success stories I’ve received, so there’s that nugget.

Why this matters: It’s another layer to Step 1 & shows you your progress.

Step 3: Look at the business + life intentions for the last month.

I’ll tell you how these were set to begin with in just a little bit.

Here’s what I set for February and what happened:

• Write something meaningful everyday. Nope.


• Launch the 7 Day Storyteller’s Challenge. Yes.

As I go, I’m listening to my thoughts on what comes up around each thing. It may be a lesson, a frustration, or a win. It’s important to acknowledge these things, not just check a box of did / didn’t.

Hint: Check in with this weekly. It’s a time-saver for your actual report.

Example: I fell off the writing challenge wagon and reflected on that in a short note on 2/15. I noticed at the end of January that the reflection took a long time at month’s end in terms of summing it up in works to put on the site, so I printed February’s out and it’s been WAY faster to quickly record my thoughts in real-time.

• Writing challenge: I put it off & eventually gave it up. It feels like I have to work on my podcast, do my marketing tasks, and serve my audience, which leaves little time for writing. It’s like I’m waiting for all those things to be DONE before I work on this. So, I need to define how I can fit writing in or let go of some of the other things.

You can read all of my February Intentions & Results here. 

Favorite thing from my February Intentions:

Test drive themed work days. It was a slow start, but feeling good at the end of the month. This has been my flow:

• Monday – Admin


• Tuesday – Podcast


• Wednesday – Content or Program Development


• Thursday – Marketing


• Friday – Wildcard or Systems

Of course, there’s always room for flexibility, but if I try to stick with this schedule, then nothing gets too far out of sight.

Why this step matters: You’ll capture everything that came up all in one place, so that it’s there for you now and also in 3-6 months from now when you want to look back at what’s been going on. You can see synchronicities in your behavior, energy, problems, etc.

Step 4: Review your Small, Impactful Actions for the Month & Wishlist

Same thing as Step 3, look at what was done, what wasn’t + why, and anything that comes up from these.

Step 5: Reflect on Your Story to Pay Attention To

For me in February:

I wanted to reflect on my family’s story: what our life is like right now. Did I do it? Not really. I’m in a fog. I’ll do a Slow Down session in my Playbook before end of the month (March).

Instead, I worked on TPP actions: editing & canvases for MIL.

Why this matters: THIS is really what we’re all working for isn’t it? Connection to our own lives?

It’s just a m