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An audit sounds like something really boring, I know. But last week, it was a life audit that turned around how I felt about my year past and future. Just as I had a feeling of sinking into more undone things, stopping to take stock has helped me not only get a realistic view of where I was, but, more importantly, identify my key next steps for the rest of the year. As such, I thought I would share some practical tips on how to make your next audit more productive.
What is a life audit?
Funny enough, most people do not realise my first job was in auditing. I was an intern for KPMG in Berlin in the summer of 2003, looking at loan reports and analysing collateral. This is not the type of audit I am talking about. The only things my summer internship and a life audit have in common are that you need to get into the details. So what do I mean by an audit?
What I mean is a detailed analysis of what you have done to achieve a goal and what the measurable outcomes.
- Was your goal to expand your client list? Did you complete the activities in your plan? If so, did the impact materialise?
- Was your goal to get started on your book? Did you put in the hours every day? If so, what did you achieve?
It is not just about what you did, but also about what it was able to create. Often, we focus only on what we did, as that is in reality what we can control. But if we did all the actions and the impact is not seen, then we need to also look into that connection. Are we defining the right actions to achieve our goals?
An audit is not for the faint-of-heart. It requires a real ability to accept what you are not doing without a need to justify yourself. And an ability to see failure and how to correct it without fear.
How do I start
Typically, it would be nice to have a baseline. Goals, OKRs, vision, anything similar will do. In my case, I mixed SMART Goals and OKRs at the start of the year, as I felt my planning needed a boost, so I started by reading those thoroughly. In case you don’t have a baseline, needless to say, this would be a really good time to get some (read here for more on that). So let’s assume you have a goal. This is where a life audit begins: ground yourself.
Sit down with pen and paper, or however you like to work that it focuses your mind. For me, despite so much of my work being done on a computer, there is nothing like pen and paper to get my mind focused on a topic and absorb what it is telling me. I used my journal, but you can use loose sheets or a large print cardboard. Whatever works. What is important is not to use this as an excuse to have to go buy a colour poster or a journal. That is a procrastination sign.
Finally, you need time. A luxury most of us will probably think we don’t have, especially if we are in need of an audit. I did this on a Monday morning after a good night’s sleep and a long walk. For moments, I thought I would stop and “just go do real work”. But the more I got into it, the more I could see how valuable this exercise was. I am not going to lie and say it takes “only 10 minutes”. This is not a life hack. As I often tell my daughter when she comes to me with yet another “hack”, I tell her that sometimes things are just to be done, not to be hacked. I am not the coolest mum sometimes.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems” – James Clear
Take it in steps
A life, business or career audit does not have to be complicated. Here are the steps that worked for me.
1. Let it sink
Take time to read through your baseline. Whether you have it written or not, bring to your mind your North. As you wrote down each goal (hopefully), you may or may not have written a why. If you haven’t, bring that back and remind yourself. Even though I wrote down whys to each of my goals, I must say that, 9 months later, I did not have these fully present. I surprised myself as I made myself read my whys out loud. With this, it was easier to get into a reflection mode on how I went about these goals
2. What has been done?
At the beginning of the year, I set out to list what measurable activities I would do for each of my goals. They included daily activities, special projects. For instance, for my business, I said I would write weekly (mostly done), strengthen my Make Space for Growth Podcast (half-done), launch the AI podcast (done), develop my workshop for NOVA (WIP), relaunch my newsletter (not done), and review my library of frameworks for clients (not done). Funny enough, I had a lot about content and framework development, even speaking and networking. But not so much about the simple activity of doing client outreach.
3. What were the results?
Over the years, I have learnt to really quantify my goals. It is always a bit scary to express ambition, especially when in new areas. Or when not all inputs depend on you. But I found this to be an extremely important step over the years. And if you fall too short or too wide when you start, there is always next year to further calibrate. This is a great way to use an audit to calibrate how you thought about your goals. If you were looking into launching 5 products and only 1 came into fruition, and 2 are halfway, that is in itself good information. The gap is a learning opportunity.
Turn the gap into actions
Most audits stop at step number 3 above. Now, it is time to turn your audit into a consulting project. Yes, I have done a bit of consulting in my life as well (it was not all finance). So, now is the time to turn valuable information gathered in your audit into something you can work with.
For each goal (in my case, 6), I sought to identify the 1 or 2 most valuable actions that could take me to the next level on each of my goals. Some of them were large leap actions, because I have really left some stuff behind. But others were as simple as “stay consistent”. All-in-all, I identified under 10 actions for the remainder of the year. Small-to-medium steps that I could take right away to start closing the gap. To be honest,
I even stopped my audit at some point to go and take some action because I felt so pumped by my reflection.
Turn off the distractions
As a bonus step, this year I added a reflection on what has distracted me. What did I think I was doing to advance my goals, and that really was not the case? What did I accept doing that had nothing to do with what I originally planned for the year?
We all end up working on things that are outside our control, or at least that feel like such. Declining engagements, chats or social events is not something I am well versed in doing. It is normal that meetings pile up in the diary, and projects that were not on the original list come up. It’s part of the flexibility of a portfolio life. But it is also important to assess which ones are distracting you from achieving what you plan to achieve.
After a process of physically decluttering my house, I wrote down the areas where I needed to declutter my working life to achieve my goals. It is funny how we know what is distracting us, if only we take the time to look deeply into how we use our time. Let’s not forget that there are 168 hours in a week. How many of those are we really living intentionally? Or resting intentionally?
Will you audit your life?
The audit relaunched my year. Do I wish I had done it in July as originally planned? Maybe so. But then again, I don’t know that I would have sprung straight into action just as I was looking to wind down for the summer holidays. The month of September is a great one to audit where you and your business are. It gives plenty of time to evaluate and course correct with a clear, immediate impact in this calendar year. Are you ready to audit your life?