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THE MAY REVIEW

Your guide & workbook to reflect, review, recharge & map

out your goals for 2013, so that you can excel this year!

Brought to you by

Ref l e c t • Rev i ew • Re f re sh

the Female Entrepreneur Association

The May

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Michelle Rohr, Founder of the Secret OWL Society

Michelle is passionate about personal development and business. She is the

creator of the Secret OWL Society, a project that is focused on inspiring young

people to embrace the world of self-improvement and living the entrepreneurial

lifestyle. When she is not working on her various businesses and projects,

she enjoys walking on the beach, taking cat naps, and drinking coffee.

Her favourite quote is, “Your greatest life is on the other side of your greatest fear. You must run toward what frightens you.”

The May Review Team

Carrie Green, Founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association

Carrie’s favourite quote is “I can and I will. Watch me.” She started her

first business in 2005 while studying Law at university. Within a few years

she’d built it into a successful, global business reaching over 100,000 people

every month. In 2011 she created the Female Entrepreneur Association as an

online platform where female entrepreneurs could come to inspire others by

sharing their story and be inspired. She believes that at the core of success is

the attitude to succeed, which is why she now dedicates her time to sharing

strategies and information to help others programme their mind for success.

Samantha Green, Graphic Designer & founder of Little Green

Little Green is an English boutique creative studio. With a passion for design

and a love of contemporary prettiness, we work very closely with each and

every client, to develop stylish solutions for small businesses and creative

entrepreneurs. Favourite Quote: “Creativity is intelligence having fun!”

Designed by Little Green // Copyright 2013 Female Entrepreneur Association

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The May Review

Time has been whizzing by and we’re already nearly half way through the year! Are you on track? Have you been making the progress you wanted to be making? Have you achieved what you want so far?

I find that it’s so easy to get caught up in day-to-day activities – you start off the year with your goals written out and with the best intentions of reaching them, but then life gets in the way! All of a sudden 5 months have flown by and you’ve not made the progress you wanted to make. You’ve stopped reviewing your goals, let alone writing new ones!

So, now is the perfect time to take a step back and reflect on what’s happened so far, address potential blocks and problems that have held you back, set new goals and map out the rest of the year! We’ve created The May Review Guide & Workbook to help to do this! It doesn’t matter whether you’re on track right now or not, because everyone can benefit from taking a step back from their business to reflect, review and plan.

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⇒ Questions to help uncover what’s going right and what’s going wrong.

⇒ An exercise to help you overcome blocks.

⇒ Questions to help you get clarity and set goals for the year ahead.

⇒ A fun project to help you stay focused on what you want to achieve!

⇒ Powerful words and affirmations you can cut out and stick on your wall to help you programme your mind for success.

⇒ An exercise for mapping out your goals and creating a game plan.

⇒ An exercise for helping you to manage your time, so that you can make good progress.

⇒ An exercise for creating a mind map to help you to see where you’re going and what you need to do to get there.

⇒ A blank map for you to fill in and stick on your wall to help you stay on track.

The May Review will take you through a simple, fun and effective process for helping you to achieve amazing things this year.

So set aside some time and get ready to do your May Review.

In the May Review you will find…

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A BIG thank you…

I have to give a big shout out and thank you to Michelle Rohr who has helped me to put this together. Michelle is the creator of the Secret OWL Society, a project that is focused on inspiring young people to embrace the world of self-improvement and living the entrepreneurial lifestyle. The mind maps we’ve created for you are from Michelle!

I hope you enjoy this guide & workbook, but mostly I hope that it helps you to stay on track and achieve amazing things!

Carrie x

Action to take right away:

⇒ Print this off.

⇒ Fill it out – take the time to answer the questions.

⇒ Do the exercises.

⇒ Head over to our LinkedIn group here and join in the conversation about The May Review – ask questions, share advice and connect with like-minded people.

⇒ Share The May Review

Click here to TweetClick here to share on Facebook

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Reflecting on the past is a great way to see what’s working and what’s not. It will help you to shine a light on any blocks you have, so that you can get rid of them and it will also help you to see what things you really excel at.

Think back over the past few months and answer these questions…

Step 1: Reflecting on the past.

What amazing things have you achieved?[Big or small]

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What did you do in order to achieve them?

What did you want to achieve, but didn’t?

[Try to be as specific as you can]

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Why didn’t you achieve them?

What have you had the most success with? [Which products/services were most loved? Which products/

services generated the most revenue?]

[Be honest]

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What has made you the happiest?

What have been your biggest frustrations? [Let loose with the pen and get it all out! Once you know what holds you back and what’s stopping you, you can make a plan of action for

how you can make sure it doesn’t hold you back in the future.]

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How much revenue did your business generate?

What were your expenses?

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What did you net?[What came in, minus what went out]

What’s really worked for you over the past few months?

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What really hasn’t worked?

Have there been any major blocks? If so, what?

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You should now have a really clear picture of what’s happened in your business life over the past few months, which is amazing! We can learn so much from reflecting

on the past – when you know what works and what doesn’t work you can make changes so that you stay on

track and achieve your goals.

How much have things grown?[Sales/network]

Quote

“The only thing standing in between you and your goal is the story you keep telling yourself as

to why you can’t achieve it.”

So, let’s change that story...

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Mental blocks… we’ve all been there! We spend so much time either stuck in the past or anticipating the future that we forget to live in the present. We forget to just get on with what we can get on with right now, today. Instead we create blocks, limitations and stories as to why we can’t do something or why we can’t have something and those blocks hold us back and make us feel like we’re stuck behind a giant brick wall!

We end up spending so much time focusing on what we don’t want to happen or why we can’t have what we want that we end up proving ourselves right, because the more we focus on our blocks, the bigger they become and the more they hold us back.

So in order to leap forward and reach our goals, we have to release our blocks!

Here’s an exercise to help you do just that...

Removing the Blocks

Identify the BlocksGet clear on any blocks you feel you have – no matter how big or small.

It could be that you feel like you have a money block, or maybe you feel like there’s not enough time or it could be that you feel like you

hold yourself back with self sabotaging thoughts.

Have a think about what you feel is blocking you from reaching your goals.

Now do this exercise…

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Over the next 30 days I want you to become more aware of your thoughts throughout the day. Whenever you notice yourself thinking about one of the blocks you identified, whether it’s that you’re feeling panicky because of a lack of time/money or whether it’s that you feel low because your block is making everything seem impossible I want you to stop do the following...

Surrender & Release

The fastest and easiest way to snap yourself out of a state of mind is by changing your posture. Often when we’re focusing on our blocks we feel a bit defeated and stuck and so our posture will often reflect this – slumped over shoulders, head lowered – whereas when we feel positive and we’re in the state of mind of “I will make this happen” we’re usually standing or sitting tall, head up, with a strong posture.

Simply by changing your posture from slouched to up right you’re sending a message to your subconscious that you can do it, that you’re ready to make it happen. Similarly, if you’re feeling low, taking a second to smile can instantly start to shake you out of that state of mind and put you in a more positive one.

Change Your Posture

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Once you’ve changed your posture I want you to say out loud (or in your head, but out loud is better)

“I surrender all”

Say it with meaning, mentally picture your blocks disappearing – sometimes I imagine them dissolving.

Then I want you to say,

“I release all blocks and trust that what I want to achieve will come to pass at the right

time, in the right way.”

Say it as many times as you want until you’re no longer feeling bad about the block, but empowered by the fact that you trust that somehow everything will work out and nothing can stop you.

This is a powerful exercise, because you are using your body, your thoughts and your words to break your thought pattern and stop you from exerting your energy on the block.

If you start doing this every day you will start to break the down the block.

You’ve got to train your brain to stop focusing on the blocks and start focusing on what you do want. You’ve got to break the cycle of negative thinking and change the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t have what you want.

Change Your Words & Thoughts

Quote

YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINKAll that you are arises from

your thoughts.With your thoughts, you make

your world.

{Buddha}

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Focus

Focus on all the reasons why you can, not all the reasons why

you can’t.

Focus on all the reasons why it will happen, not all the reasons why

it wont.

Remember that all success is created in the mind.

Here’s a video all about overcoming struggles & blocks.

Here are 4 steps to programming your mind

for success

Download this guided visualisation to help you to programme your mind for success.

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If you want to achieve some amazing things this year then you need to get really clear about what it is that you want to achieve. It seems so obvious, yet most of us forget to actually do it (I’ve definitely been guilty of this before!).

Forgetting to set goals is like getting in your car and having no idea where you’re going – you just drive around aimlessly!

So take some time to get clear on what you want and set your goals. Here are some questions to help you...

Step 2: Setting Your Goals

Hint...

Sometimes I find it helpful to picture a day in the future when I’ve reached my goals. I’m lying on a lounger next to a pool, I’m

on holiday and I’m staying at an amazing, beautiful resort. The sun is shining brightly and as I lie there I think about

everything I’ve achieved and I take a deep breath and let the feelings wash over me and I smile feeling thankful and grateful that I reached my goals. As I lie there in this amazing moment I feel a breeze and can smell sun cream – I make the moment

as real as possible, as if it’s actually a memory. For me thinking about this day helps me to really connect to the emotions and feelings of achieving the things I want – it helps me to connect to the thought that everything I want to achieve is a done deal. Try it – what does a perfect day in the future look like for you?

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How much revenue do you want to generate?

How many customers would you need in order to do that?

By the end of the year what will your business look like?

[What do you want to have achieved?]

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How much do you want to grow your network by?

[Email list/social media]

Write down whatever it is that you want to achieve...

[Maybe you want to write a book or create more products or services? Maybe you want to host an event?]

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Creating a dreamboard is a fun way to get clear on what you want and to remind yourself of it every day! My dreamboard is up in my bedroom and every morning and every night I spend a couple of minutes looking at it, visualising achieving the things on it.

Here’s what you need…

Create a Dreamboard

1x pin board Lots of pins!

Internet connection and a printer to print

off more things you want!

Magazines – to tear out pictures of things

you want.

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Here’s what you need to do...Decide what you want to achieve – it could be that you want to get 1000 new people on your email list, if so write it down, “By [date] I will have 1,000 new people on my mailing list.” – I actually use Photoshop to edit screenshots, so I’ll take a screenshot of my mail list in MailChimp and I’ll edit the numbers, so I can see exactly what it’ll look like when I’ve hit that target. That’s exactly what I did when I wanted to reach 50,000 fans on Facebook – I took a screenshot of my fan page and then I edited it so the image on my pin board looked like I had 50,000 fans.

In the middle of my pin board in big letters is the word TRUST. When I look at my pin board I see all the things I want to achieve and then I say, “I trust that all that I want to achieve will come to pass at the right time, in the right way.” Trusting that you will reach your goals is powerful – you’ve got to believe that what you want to achieve is a done deal. You can include other meaningful words to you like what your most important values are, ‘love’, ‘kindness’, ‘authentic’ or you could include affirmations like “I welcome abundance into my life with open arms.” – Whatever works best for you, it’s your pin board and you’ve got to look at it every day, so follow your instincts and create what you want.

Put your pin board up somewhere you will see it every day, if possible.

Take at least 5 minutes every day to look at your pin board and as you’re looking at the things you want to achieve picture in your minds eye achieving them – how will you feel? Hold that feeling for a few seconds and then trust that it will happen.

1

2

3

4

Have fun doing it! This isn’t supposed to be a chore, so if it feels like one then this exercise probably isn’t for you

(which is perfectly OK).

Most of all...

Here are some words & affirmations you can cut out and put on your pin board...

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Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you want to achieve by the end of the year you need to make a plan. Trying to reach a goal without creating a plan is a bit like getting in your car and knowing that you want to drive from Manchester to London, but not looking up how you’re going to get there or taking a map with you. You’d probably waste a lot of time going in the wrong direction! But if you make a plan before you start the trip or if you take a map with you, you can see where you need to go in order to reach your destination – you might hit some traffic jams along the way and need to revise your journey and find an alternative route, but you will get there in the end.

The key things you need to do when planning your journey:

•Make an overall plan.

•Break it down and create milestones.

•Set deadlines.

Step 4: Map it out

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•Break it Down

If you don’t break it down you can end up feeling really overwhelmed with it all! You can either start at the end and work backwards or start from the beginning. Identify what you need to do in order to reach your goal.

Here are some questions to help you…

•Make an Overall Plan

Write a short paragraph stating what you want to achieve, how you’re going to achieve it and when you want to achieve it by.

What research do you need to do?

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What do you need to learn about?

Who could help you? [Advisors, mentors, possible partners]

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•Set Deadlines

Once you’ve identified the actions you need to take and the milestones you want to reach, set a deadline for reaching them.

What actions do you need to take?

Once you’ve created your game plan you’ve got to schedule the actions you need to take into your day. I find that it’s effective to spend 10

minutes on a Sunday night making my game plan for the week ahead. I break my days down into mini-days (so Monday 9am-11am is one

mini day, 11.30am-1pm is another mini day and so on) I then plan out one or two main things I want to get done within each mini-day.

Make your plan, print it off and keep it with you so that you can refer back to it regularly.

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Mind mapping is a powerful visualisation tool that helps you to organise your ideas and tasks around a single theme or concept. It allows you to create a bird’s eye view of what you want to achieve and where you need to focus your activity in order to achieve it. It will help you to create greater focus and clarity around your goals and it’s a great exercise to do at the beginning of every month!

Here’s what you need to do to create your mind map for May:

1. In the middle of your map write, ‘May’ – the focus of this map is to draw out what you want to achieve this month and the actions you need to take in order to achieve it.

2. Coming off the circle in the middle you need to write down things you’d like to achieve. It could be ‘Create e-book’ or ‘Grow my list by 500 people’ anything you want to achieve.

3. Next to each goal identify the core things you need to do this month in order to reach your goal.

Creating Your Mind MapBy Michelle Rohr, the Secret OWL Society

Think: What would have to happen this month for me to feel happy with my progress?

Quote

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just

take the first step.

{Martin Luther King, Jr.}

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Here’s an example…

You really just want to add the core actions you need to take to your map. You can drill down more and more into each action using your weekly game plan. The idea of this map is to create an overview for

you, so you can stick it on your wall or keep it on your desk to remind you of what you’re trying to achieve.

Here’s a blank mind map for you to fill out for May!

Grow my list by 5,000

Make a video

Launch new e-shop

Find potential individuals and organisations to partner with.

Create the marketin

g strategy

(emails, s

ocial posts, who can help me?)

Share it with my network

Write th

e scri

pt.

Learn about what equipment I need to use.

Find som

eone to

edit i

t and u

pload

it for

me.

Set up the sh

op

Finish the products

Create and promote a free e-book.

Add a sign up bo

x to my webs

ite.

Create a sign up tab on my Facebook fan page.

I’m g

oing

to m

ake

this

hap

pen

– I c

an a

nd I

will

, wat

ch m

e!

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It’s so important to take a step back from the chaos of day-to-day life and reflect upon what’s going right and what’s not going so right and to get really clear about what you’re trying to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it.

With your destination set, your map in hand and the exercises to help you power through the blocks you’re going to make some incredible things happen.

Good luck on your adventure and make 2013 a brilliant year!

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