368. Why January Is the Worst Time to Plan Your Year

Years ago, I went to a full-day "best year yet" workshop at the end of the second week in January. I'm coachable to a fault, so I did every single exercise they gave us. I walked out with an enormous workbook and what I thought was a beautiful plan for my year.

That plan was basically useless before I'd even finished unpacking.

Part of the problem was that nobody in that room ever asked what my real life and my real capacity looked like. The other part was the timing. Every planner starts in January, every marketer is shouting "new year, new you" (my least favorite message ever), and so that's when most of us finally sit down to map out the next 12 months. Right after the six most demanding weeks of the year, with a full-blown holiday hangover.

If you've ever built a plan in January and watched it fall apart before spring, friend, this one's for you. I'm sharing why January quietly works against the plan you're trying to make, and when I do my annual planning so January gets to be just another month.

In This Episode, I'll Cover:

• What happens when you bring your holiday-hangover energy to your annual plan, and why pushing through anyway can backfire.
• Why the plan you make in early January is secretly built on the chaos of the last few weeks, and you won't even notice it happening.
• How January and a good chunk of February can be gone before your plan even gets started.
• The month I've been doing my annual planning for years instead, and what it changed about how my January feels.

Listen to the episode here!

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