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I know the end of the year feels like planning season. Especially December. Everyone is talking about their goals for 2025, workshops popping up everywhere, annual business planning sessions, resolutions, and identifying a theme for the next year.

The internet is full of templates, vision boards, and elaborate spreadsheets.

But here’s the trap: big annual planning creates the illusion of control without giving you momentum.

You can spend hours perfecting a twelve-month plan with the best business strategy for 2026, only to see it crumble by February.

Markets shift.
New opportunities appear.
Clients behave unpredictably.
Old ones vanish.

The more rigid the plan, the faster it breaks.

That’s why wasting December on a massive annual plan is a mistake. It feels productive but rarely moves the needle. Instead, you need a planning approach that gives you flexibility, speed, and traction right out of the gate.

Why Annual Planning Fails in Real Life

Yearly Business Plans Create False Certainty

A twelve-month plan assumes you know what will happen. You don’t. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that the world can flip overnight. Even in calmer years, predictions about sales, clients, and expenses rarely hold true for more than a few months.

Paralysis by Detail

The longer the horizon, the more detail people add. Tasks, sub-tasks, color-coded calendars. You end up managing a spreadsheet instead of your business.

Annual Planning Kills Momentum in January

When you tie your energy to January 1st, you delay progress. December becomes “dead time” while you wait to flip the calendar. By the time you finally start, you’ve lost six weeks of potential traction.

Rigidity

Annual plans discourage adaptation. Once you’ve invested in the big plan, you resist changing it, even when reality demands it. You stay stuck chasing the wrong priorities. This is a classic example of the sunk cost fallacy - the tendency to continue with a decision simply because you’ve already spent time, money, or energy on it, even if changing course would lead to better results.

The Better Alternative: Short Horizons + Big Direction

Instead of one giant annual plan, combine short-term execution cycles with a long-term directional aim.

Think of it like sailing. You don’t chart every wave for the year ahead. You set a destination, then adjust your course every few miles. The dock gives you a place to start. The compass keeps you aimed in the right direction.

Here’s how that looks in practice:

Step 1: Set a Bigger Direction, Not a Bigger Plan

Instead of setting 12 months of rigid goals, choose a directional business strategy and flexible 90-day goals.

Examples:

Real estate agent: grow listing side to 60% of deals.
Architect: expand into light commercial work.
Coach: shift from 1:1 clients to group programs.

That’s a directional aim. It’s clear, but it doesn’t lock you into fragile tactics.

Step 2: Work in 90-Day Chunks

Ninety days is the sweet spot. Long enough to achieve meaningful results. Short enough to adapt when conditions change. Quarterly planning is more effective than annual planning because it gives you focus, accountability, and the ability to adjust when markets or economies shift.

A 90-day cycle forces focus:

Pick 1–3 major projects.
Break them into weekly deliverables.
Review at the halfway mark.
Reset at the end of the quarter.

At the end of each 90-day cycle, ask: Did this move me closer to my bigger aim? If yes, keep going. If not, adjust.

Step 3: Lock in Monthly Momentum

Inside your 90-day cycle, set a monthly checkpoint. Not a plan review - a momentum check.

What’s completed?
What’s stuck?
What’s next?

The monthly view keeps you accountable without the heaviness of re-planning everything.

Step 4: Weekly Navigation

Every week, decide on the small number of things that must move forward. In my system, I call these Top Hits.

One Top priority → The One Priority
1–4 Hits — High-impact tasks

That’s it. Not 47 to-dos. Just the work that matters most right now.

Step 5: Stop Wasting December

This is the contrarian piece, not to be contrarian. But to be helpful. December should not be about creating a massive annual plan that will be obsolete by February.

Use December to:

Clear your decks. Close loops, finish loose projects, clean up systems.
Reflect. What worked, what didn’t, what lessons will carry forward.
Prime your first 90-day sprint. Decide on your first projects for Q1.
Spend time with family and friends. Enjoy your holidays, be with your loved ones.

That way, when January 2nd arrives, you are not staring at a 50-page plan. You are already in motion.

But Darin…

“But big plans keep me motivated.”
Big plans give the illusion of motivation but fade quickly. Momentum is built by visible progress, not vision statements. Ninety days of progress feels more motivating than twelve months of promises.

“But investors or partners expect an annual plan.”
I get it. Big business likes big plans. This is article is not for you.

“But without a big plan, I’ll drift.”
Not if you set a clear bigger aim. Aim gives you direction. 90-day cycles give you traction. Together, they beat the false certainty of a giant plan.

Old Way vs New Way

Old Way:

Spend December building an annual plan.
Wait until January to start.
Lose momentum by March when reality breaks the plan.

New Way:

Spend December clearing space and reflecting.
Set one bigger directional aim.
Run your business in 90-day sprints.

Adjust as conditions change.

The Transformation

When you stop wasting December on big annual plans, three things change.

You start faster. January isn’t a reset. It’s a continuation of momentum.
You adapt better. Each quarter you adjust instead of forcing a broken plan.
You focus sharper. Short horizons force you to choose what matters most.

Instead of being the person with a color-coded plan abandoned by spring, you become the person who moves steadily forward all year long.

4 Things You Can Do Now, When You’re Ready…

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Stop Wasting December: A Smarter 2025 Business Planning Strategy