Set Yourself Up For Success: Build A Plan For An Outstanding 2025
It’s that time of year; we’re all doing it. In our personal lives, our love lives, and also our careers and our financial habits. There’s something about “new year, new you” that tempts us with a clean slate, forgiveness (and maybe forgetfulness) of last year’s…challenges.
Who can resist a chance for a fresh start? More importantly: WHY would you, when it can be so effective? So here’s your guide to building an outstanding “Plan: 2025” for yourself, courtesy Nancy Wilson of the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
The No-Fault Debrief
Sometimes when dealing with deeply personal debriefs, it can help to leverage those entrepreneurial skills and come at the problem like a project.
If you’re an entrepreneur who is looking for a different business outcome in the new year, do a formal debrief, which is a crucial skill to have and practice when you’re building a business. And if you’re doing it right, it could be the most fun debriefs you do all year - because it means you’re building your exciting next phase.
The important part is to check blame at the door because there's no space for it here - it's too costly. Identify your mistakes and leave them in the past. Focus on what you did right and how you can keep building on what works for you and your business.
Quarterly Planning Is Key
Plan your year a quarter at a time. I tend to jot notes in the future quarters, and as they firm up, they help define the plan. It’s a trick to avoid building out details too far ahead.
The reality is that you can waste endless hours building in the detail nine months ahead, and as you’re doing it you KNOW it’s going to change. Don’t waste your time - it’s valuable, the most valuable commodity a founder has.
The other reason to wait is to reduce overwhelm. Sure, you can roll your eyes at that, but you know I’m right. When you start thinking about all the things you have to do months from now, it feels like it is a never-ending mountain of tasks (spoiler: it is never-ending, but think about how much you accomplished this year!)
By pausing in the middle of each quarter to do a quick assessment of where you’re at, and having that protected time to properly consider and plan the future quarter, you’re disrupting that hamster-wheel of work, and giving yourself a necessary pause to breathe and mindfully build a plan that works.
It’s when we DON’T pause that we start making mistakes, because we have no buffer for opportunities that come up.Taking the time at to plan one quarter ahead (and only one quarter at a time) means you have the flexibility to respond to opportunities and challenges without overloading yourself.
Priorities Shortlist
Obviously you’re going to want to set yourself some goals, but once again: less is more.
There’s many ways to go about this, it’s not uncommon for people to have goal creep that ends up in double digits. However, the more goals you add to your list, the more your attention is split, and the less likely you are to achieve them.
If you end up with a long list, consider which of the items on that list are in the same ballpark or influence each other. If they both matter to you, see if you can figure out a way to blend them without diluting them. If you do blend them, do an intentional check at the end to see if you’re comfortable with how much they might have been diluted. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, trust your intuition and don’t blend them.
Only YOU know how important these goals are to you. I might need Katherine Johnson herself to figure out the formula if we were to try to capture that calculation. Make sure when you are considering what stays and what goes, you don’t forget some key things:
You need to take care of yourself, your ship sinks with you.
Time spent learning and just thinking are often more valuable time investments than attacking a long to-do list.
Rest is necessary, and as Tricia Hersey said, it is also resistance. Resist the urge to do more.
My last piece of advice: don’t be afraid to change your goals. If you find midyear that one of your goals no longer makes sense, don’t force that round peg into a square hole. And resist the urge to add another priority goal midway through the year - it’s way better to double down on your remaining goals.
Final Step: Setting Yourself Up For Success
No matter what your goals are, your first checklist item is to start 2025 by joining a community of successful, unstoppable, incredible women from across Canada: that’s what you will get at the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
You’ll find endless support, both from CanWCC as well as from your fellow members. We make it possible for women from all backgrounds to access our benefits and network via our Equity Pricing Plan.
CanWCC is truly the place where your goals come to thrive.
Flip the Script is funded by the Government of Canada through a grant from Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED)’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy.
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