How to Do a Midyear Review and Get Back on Track With Your Goals

You’re sitting at your desk, juggling client calls, marketing tasks, and the endless admin work that never seems to stop. You glance at the calendar and feel that pang of unease: we’re already halfway through the year. The goals you set in January — the ones that felt so exciting at the time — now feel like distant memories.

Here’s the hidden problem: without checkpoints, you risk running faster on the hamster wheel without knowing if you’re even on the right track. Busy doesn’t always equal productive, and sometimes the hours you pour into work don’t line up with the results you truly want.

I’ve been there, and so have many of the business owners I work with. You start with great intentions, but as the months fly by, client demands, family responsibilities, and “urgent” tasks take over. Before you know it, you’re left wondering: Am I really making progress? Or am I just spinning my wheels?

This is where a midyear review comes in.  Your personal CEO audit to make sure the back half of the year moves you closer to your real goals. Think of it as your CEO reset button.  This kind of business reflection midyear helps you step out of the weeds and see your business from a leadership lens. It’s your opportunity to pause, step back, and realign your business with the goals that matter most. Done well, it gives you clarity on what’s working, confidence in your next steps, and permission to let go of what isn’t serving you.

Why a Midyear Review Matters

Without a midyear review, most small business owners default to autopilot. That might keep things moving, but it doesn’t guarantee progress. By intentionally pressing pause, you create space to:

• Reconnect with the goals you set earlier in the year
• Identify unproductive activities that waste energy
• Prevent burnout by doubling down on what actually drives results

Take the story of a client who spent months producing daily posts on three different social media platforms. She assumed all that visibility was the key to growth. But during her midyear review, she discovered that 80% of her clients were coming from referrals, not social media. That one insight allowed her to scale back drastically, reclaim time, and redirect focus toward strengthening referral systems instead.

Research supports this need for reflection. According to Harvard Business Review, people are more likely to follow through on goals when they’re broken into smaller, achievable milestones and revisited regularly.

At the same time, it’s important not to become rigid. Another study warns that treating goals as fixed can actually backfire, narrowing focus too much or leading to burnout. Goals should be molded and adapted as circumstances change. A midyear review helps you find that balance. It’s structured enough to give direction and flexible enough to adjust when life happens.

Step 1: Have Your Goals Shifted? Let’s Recheck What Still Fits

Bring Your Goals Back into View

Every powerful midyear review starts with clarity. Start by pulling out the goals you set at the beginning of the year. If you never wrote them down, don’t panic. If you’ve been too swamped to even look at your January goals since Q1, you’re not alone. Life and business move fast. That’s exactly why this moment matters. Take a few minutes now to write them clearly as the act of documenting them makes it easier to track progress.

I had a client who came into our midyear check-in feeling behind.  She was convinced she hadn’t “done enough.” But once we laid her January goals next to her actual results, she realized something powerful: one of her biggest goals no longer aligned with her values. She’d evolved, but her goals hadn’t. That moment of clarity helped her stop chasing an outdated outcome and redirected her toward what truly mattered in this season of life and business.

Think of this as your business goal check-in.  Not to judge your progress, but to reconnect with what matters most.

One of my clients came into her midyear review with a big goal to launch a second membership. But as we talked, she admitted the first membership was already draining her energy and underperforming. By the end of our session, she gave herself permission to shelve the second idea entirely which freed up time and mental bandwidth to focus on what was already working.

Ask Yourself Key Questions

For each goal, work through these questions:

• What was the goal?
• Am I on track, off track, or have I already achieved it?
• Why or why not?
• Does this goal still matter, or has my focus shifted?

It helps to separate project goals (one-time tasks like launching a new offer) from process goals (ongoing habits like publishing weekly content). For example, one of my process goals is releasing a new podcast episode each week. Because it’s systematized, I can easily see if I’m on track. A project goal, like creating a new workshop, has a clear finish line.

Goal-setting frameworks like SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) can help ensure your goals are grounded in reality But remember, they’re not set in stone. Your midyear review is the perfect time to reshape goals so they align with what you’ve learned so far this year.

Goals aren’t sacred, they’re strategic. Sometimes the best CEO decision is to let one go, not double down. That’s the power of doing a midyear review from a leadership lens, not just an operational one.

Step 2: Look Back Before You Leap. A Month-by-Month Midyear Review

Once you’ve clarified your goals, it’s time to look back at your progress in detail.

Track Revenue and Offers

Pull your numbers for each month. Look at top-line revenue, then break it down by offer or service. This isn’t about perfection. It’s about showing yourself the progress you’ve made even if it doesn’t look like what you expected in January. 

Ask yourself:

• Which offers are driving the majority of revenue?
• Which ones take too much time for too little return?

I’ve seen business owners realize that their “passion project” offers consume 30% of their energy while producing less than 10% of revenue. Seeing the numbers laid out month by month makes the decision to pivot much easier.

Evaluate Marketing and Sales Efforts

Now look at what you actively promoted each month. Did you run a challenge, launch a new product, or test ads? Then ask: where did your last 10 clients come from? Was it referrals, your email list, or social media?

This exercise is a reality check. One client discovered she’d spent weeks creating a new challenge that converted only two clients. At the same time, her referral program quietly brought in steady business. That midyear review gave her permission to refocus on what worked and drop what didn’t.

It’s normal to get derailed by client fires or personal demands. The good news is you don’t have to start from scratch each time. Simple practices like learning to reset your week when plans change can keep you moving forward even after disruptions.

Step 3: What’s Actually Moving the Needle And What’s Just Keeping You Busy?

Here’s where you get honest with yourself.

Identify Your Bread-and-Butter Offers

Most businesses have one or two core offers that carry the bulk of revenue. Identify them and ask: are you giving them the attention they deserve, or are you distracted by shiny new projects?

Decide What to Stop Doing

Just as important as knowing what’s working is recognizing what isn’t. Are you spending hours tweaking Canva graphics that don’t move the needle? Running a free Facebook group that drains your energy but doesn’t lead to clients?

This is where CEO midyear planning comes into play: setting direction that reflects your current capacity, not just your January ambitions. If everything feels like it’s kind of “working,” but nothing feels fulfilling, that’s a sign not a failure. Sometimes the work that pays off isn’t the work that feels aligned.

For me, that moment came a couple of years ago when I decided to start the CEO Amplify podcast. I already had a full schedule and visibility channels, so it would’ve been easy to dismiss it as “extra.” But during my midyear reflection, I realized I craved a format where I could go deeper, not just wider. I needed to reflect and decide what could be taken off my plate in order to move forward with the podcast, as I couldn’t do it all. The podcast wasn’t a marketing move; it was a strategic shift toward more resonance and reach, built around what I actually wanted my thought leadership to look like.

That’s what makes CEO midyear planning so powerful — it’s not about what you could do, but what will move the needle in a way that feels sustainable and aligned.

A midyear review gives you permission to cut the busywork and double down on the activities that actually drive results.

The truth is, more activity doesn’t always equal more results. As Todoist points out, being busy is about looking occupied, while being productive is about producing meaningful results. The difference comes down to focus: working intentionally on the tasks that matter most instead of filling your time with distractions

Ready to stop chasing busywork and start building a plan you can stick to?

Grab my free Dream Big Plan Smart workbook and audio training — your step-by-step guide to creating a business strategy that actually works for you. 

Step 4: Numbers That Matter: Tracking What Predicts Growth vs. Just Reports It

If you want to stay ahead of the curve, this step is crucial. You don’t have to be a data nerd to lead with data. You just need to know what actually signals growth and what’s just noise.

Understand the Difference

• Lagging metrics show results after the fact: revenue, profit, number of clients.
• Leading metrics are predictors: the actions that signal whether you’re on track, like discovery calls booked, new email subscribers, or referral requests.

Think of it like driving. Revenue tells you where you’ve arrived. Leading metrics are the road signs showing you if you’re headed in the right direction.

Apply It to Your Business

For example, if you know that booking 10 discovery calls usually converts into 3 clients, then tracking discovery calls each month tells you whether you’re likely to hit your revenue goal. It gives you time to adjust before it’s too late.

If you’ve ever felt like everything is urgent and you don’t know where to start, pairing this approach with strategies on how to prioritize the right tasks in your business can help you stay focused on actions that actually move the needle.

Step 5: Don’t Just Pivot, Realign Your Strategy for the CEO You Are Now

Armed with your insights, now it’s time to plan forward. If something isn’t working, it doesn’t mean you failed. It means you’re paying attention and that’s what makes you a true CEO, not just an operator.

Simplify with Rinse-and-Repeat Systems

You don’t need a brand-new strategy every quarter. In fact, one of the most effective things you can do is double down on what already worked. Run the same promo that converted well earlier in the year, reuse email sequences, or refresh past content instead of reinventing the wheel.

This rinse-and-repeat approach saves energy and produces more predictable results.

Set Realistic Revenue Goals

Look ahead to the next six months. Set monthly revenue goals that reflect natural ebb and flow. Decide which offers you’ll focus on and how you’ll promote them.

Research from MIT Sloan shows that resilience in business comes from building flexible systems that allow leaders to adapt as conditions change — exactly what your midyear review equips you to do.

Once you’ve clarified your direction, map it into concrete steps. A structured approach to monthly planning for business owners helps you turn those big goals into tangible, repeatable results.

From Reflection to Profit: How Your Midyear Review Shapes the Rest of Your Year

Your midyear review gave you space to reflect, reset, and realign. You’ve clarified which goals still matter, what’s actually driving results, and where your time is best spent.

Now that you’ve taken the time to reflect, the next step is turning that clarity into focused action — specifically, understanding where your effort is driving profit, not just revenue.

Here’s the next CEO-level question to ask: Are those “results” growing your revenue or your profitability?

It’s one thing to see numbers going up. It’s another to know whether those numbers actually support the sustainable, scalable business you’re building. That’s the conversation we’re having next: how to distinguish between growth that looks good and growth that fuels real profit.

If your review brought clarity, this next step brings focus. Let’s dig into the difference between chasing revenue and building profitability and why it matters more than ever at midyear.