First Half of 2016 Reflections: Can This Year Just Slow Down?

Goodnight, first half of the year—it’s been a pleasure. Good morning, second half—we are going to kick your butt.

Living in Chicago, each winter, we wish for life to speed up—allowing us to quickly cruise into spring unharmed by a brutal winter. We then rush into summer, where no other city in the world can beat the kind of perfect weather we have here. But the problem is that with all of this wishful speed comes the reality that half the year is over.

It’s already freakin’ July, people.

In business, I use the midpoint of the year as a great point of self-evaluation. Am I accomplishing the goals I set out to accomplish? Or, at the very least, am I taking proactive steps to inch toward completing them by year’s end? Is our business growing at a pace I expected? Are my investments in people and foundation improving the overall outcome for our clients? Are our clients relatively more satisfied with our productivity, results and service?

Each of those questions are more gut related than anything else, but I like having a good gut check barometer on my performance. I like asking myself if I am doing everything I possibly can to create the greatest mid-sized agency that ever existed, especially if I wish for the winter to fly by.

Goal setting for the second half is equally important. Based on my personal SWOT of the first half of the year, I try to align my goals to strengthen my weaknesses, own my opportunities and decrease my threats.

As I evaluate my success of 2016 so far, I am not hitting my weight goal that I am so determined to achieve. I have done a nice job at keeping the crud out of my diet (like bread and beer during the week—unless there is Yuengling on draft). I have done a nice job at increasing my mileage on the treadmill and improving my speed. But my gut check is still gutty—I still have work to do.

Professionally, I have focused on operations and staff improvement. I feel our team has won in many areas, but one area we are failing at is making social media social again. That’s our focus for the second half, which will relate well to content, PR, marketing and advertising campaigns.

I still have work to do. I still have improvements to work on. Now, if the year could just slow down a little.

No matter if you are an employee or employer, checking in on your progress is essential to winning at your career and at life on your way to achieving what = happiness. And evaluating your potential for improvements will help make you feel better about your overall achievements.

Never settle. Go for your dreams. And remember, tomorrow is a new opportunity to be better at whatever you struggled at today.

Second half of the year, bring it on.

Nick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.

First Half of 2016 Reflections: Can This Year Just Slow Down?

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