Sarah, welcome. Welcome to another episode of uncomplicating business. I am Sara Torpey. I am so glad to see you today. Not that I'm seeing you, but I'm hearing you, or you're hearing me, or whatever it is. I'm glad to be with you always. We are now in the middle of December, which is absolutely wild number one and number two. 

This is the time of year where people start to ask me all of the planning for the New Year questions, and also not be ready for planning for the New Year quite yet. So on this episode today, what we are going to talk about is the simplest version of planning for 2025 that I have in my pocket. I'm going to try to keep this really short and sweet, because I think there are only a handful of questions that any of us need or want to be answering right now at this time of year. So we're going to talk about those questions today, and we're also going to talk about how maybe it's not time yet. So for starters, if you are ready to be planning for the new year, amazing, great, fantastic, I'm all for it. And if you are talking about planning for the new year, because you feel like you should be but you actually don't feel ready yet. 

Don't, don't worry about planning yet. I am always squarely in the second camp, and for me, I don't enjoy planning for the next year until this year has ended. It's like counting all my chickens before they've hatched or something, and I want to be present in the end of the year before I hop my brain into the new one. And it has never steered me wrong as a business owner, like I don't die because I don't have a perfectly written plan on January 1, I have not failed as a result. So if you are not quite ready to do this planning it that is okay to own. 

So you might just start this whole process by asking yourself, like, Am I ready to do this right now? If there were no shoulds, would I be planning here, or would I be enjoying the holidays? Would I be enjoying my family? Would I be working through the end of the year so that I can finish up the things I'm trying to get done in this 2024 and if the answer is you're not ready yet to plan, great. 

Don't hold on to this episode or listen to it. Let it soak around in the back of your brain for a little while and meld together until you are ready to put pen to paper, because for me, I might not be quite ready to plan, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about what I want to do next year, what the goals should be, or how I want to adjust. I am, but I'm not ready to sort of formalize it yet, so I don't, and if you're not ready either, that's fine. So that's the first question. Like, do you even want to do this right now? Is the first question. And then from here, there are three questions, ready? What is your one goal for 2025 one, you know, I said one. I am a one goal girl. You guys, if you've been listening to the podcast for a long time, you know this, I'm a big believer in one goal. I think it's really hard when we have multiple goals that we're all trying to prioritize, to decide what wins in any given circumstance. 

So when we just roll everything up to one goal, it makes decision making 1000 times simpler. For example, my one goal this year was to support 100 businesses in 2024 that was, that was it? That's my one big goal. And from that goal I get all the other things. So it's, what's your big goal for the end of 2025 What do you want to have accomplished big picture. And then the second question is, what is the big feeling you want to have in this new year? What is the core feeling you want to be a part of your work and your life and your business? For me this year, that was contentment. The year before, it was joy, and the year before that, it was ease, contentment. I have really liked it's kind of been a tricky one. I will pick something different. 

Sometimes I have a I hold a feeling for a couple of years, I will pick something different next year. I don't know what it is yet, because I haven't done my planning. A full disclosure, I told you before, I'm not ready yet, so I haven't and so for me, I will choose, you know, a feeling that I really just want to weave in and through everything else, but it does help me to then be aware of the things I don't want to be. Bringing in, which is like panic and hustle and anxiousness and pressure, right? Like those are the things that I'm kind of actively aware of not inviting in the door. Not that they don't exist, but they're not the feeling I'm trying to court either, right? Like I'm not trying to date them. 

So I want to focus my energy on a feeling that I enjoy, and that's why I set that goal. And then the last question is, you know, you have your one big goal, but like, what are the big projects you're looking forward to? Like, I can tell you, in 2024 my big project has been selling for weirdos. 

The year before that, it was a new website and a couple of other things. I mean, every year I have a couple of projects on the horizon. I think in 2025 it's going to be live events. I don't, don't quote me yet, because I don't know for sure, but I do think I would like to do some live events next year. And so, you know, what are the big projects you're looking forward to? Are there? Do you need to do some work on your website? Are you trying to launch a new project? Do you are you building a course? Are you building a big new offering? Is there some sort of, you know thing in the works that you really want to focus on, that you kind of want to put a stake in the ground with. And it's like, I'm going to work on this and I'm going to have it live and moving by summer, or whatever it is. 

And so those are really the core questions in planning. It's, what's your goal between now and the end of 2025 like, how do you want to end next year? What do you want the feeling, the main feeling of the year to be? And sort of, what are the big projects in there, and what are the things that you would really like to play with from there, what you're going to focus on is the actions you want to take in the first quarter. Because you and I both know that. You know, by the end of first quarter, we'll know some other things. Some things will have changed. 

We will know by the summer that some things are changed. We can put some pins in the ground, we can make some plans, and then we can do our best. But by quarter two, we're going to have to adjust. So just like, What do you want to do to start the year? How do you want to do what kind of offers Do you want to make? How do you want to be talking about? Be talking about things? How much connecting Do you want to do? I always do a ton more connecting in the first quarter. And that sets me up through the whole year. I love networking in the first quarter. Now that I don't love networking all the time. But so what are the things on your list? And that is it. Let that be enough right now. 

You don't need a 50 page document to have a plan. You don't need a color coded spreadsheet to have a plan. You do not need 55 steps to have a plan, three questions for whenever you're ready for them, which doesn't have to be today, and then you can move forward. All right, if you have questions, ask them if you want coaching on this. This is what I'm doing with all of my clients right now, planning for 2025 or deciding not to plan for 2025 and working on 2024 things come send a message. Let's talk one on one. 

The other thing that's happening right now is, this is the last couple of weeks that you can join group coaching in the new year for just $2,000 for the session starting January 1. That price is going up to $2,400 for the February start. So if you would like to be in group coaching, now is the time to reach out. The implementation lab is an amazing place, and you should be there with us if you do it now, though, it's going to cost less money, which is fabulous. So if you have questions about any of those things, head to my website. It's Torpey coaching com. Send me a message on email at Sara at Torpey coaching, or just, you know, come to Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever, and send me a message and I'll see you soon