How to plan your year ahead (through career uncertainty)
While entrepreneurial professionals are no strangers to uncertainty, the outlook for 2023 brings even more question marks. Plus a bonus guide to planning your year ahead.
Hello, December.
Tomorrow is the final month of 2022. And 2023 feels like yet another year of uncertainty and unpredictability. This year the pandemic feels overshadowed by an economic crisis.
Yet I’ve only ever run a business in these environments and know no different.
I am not here to instil doom and gloom, oh no. (You have Twitter for that).
This newsletter is a space for detangling the big, important questions to find clarity, direction and momentum in your entrepreneurial career. If this is the path you’ve chosen, you know it’s inherently full of uncertainty. We’ve all heard about the looming economic uncertainties in terms of rising inflation, costs of living and stock market volatility, which can make thinking about next year feel overwhelming.
Perhaps you can relate?
You are a startup employee facing prospects of layoffs, or already have been through it
You are a business owner reviewing future projections and cash flow with nervousness
You are a freelancer with a reliance on company budgets to pay the bills & feel out of control
You are a multi-hyphenate delicately balancing income streams, overwhelmed and lacking enough time or focus
Wherever you’re at in your journey, you’re welcome here. Read on for how you can plan through uncertainty (and why you would even bother), and get access to my planning ahead resource. You can also get access to a live workshop in the new year, to guide you to set your annual vision, intentions and goals.
Why even bother planning during uncertainty?
Whatever thoughts or beliefs about what lies ahead for you in 2023 (doom and gloom or the most fulfilling, successful year of your life to date), my belief and experience is that what you focus on, wish, pray or plan for is much more likely to materialise.
My friend Shelli who I met during my recent travels in Colombia told me about a fascinating ten year study by British psychologist Robert Wiseman. Wiseman researched differences between self-proclaimed ‘lucky’ and ‘unlucky’ people, in his book The Luck Factor.
The stark contrast between the two groups was immense.
The research found that anxiety (let’s say about the future economic climate) might help you to focus on a task (such as saving money for a rainy day). But this anxiety can also prevent you from seeing new opportunities. Lucky people have positive expectations and make the most of difficult situations, whereas unlucky people develop tunnel vision and can lose out on meeting other interesting people, and noticing interesting projects or events.
Why not choose to be lucky?
Making plans give us narratives to follow, clues to look out for, and a feeling of clarity.
I personally get a lot of comfort from feelings of control, clarity and certainty, and I think planning is in my DNA. As a little kid, my parents would marvel at how much future projecting I’d do. I was always excited for my next birthday to come and be a year older. Can’t say the same is true in your 30s!
Now as a Coach with a remit to guide others through their own projects, visions and goals, I’ve found a well-suited career path. I started coaching in early 2020 — about as uncertain a time as we’ve ever experienced — and in January of this year, when times felt uncertain yet again — I ran a vision and planning session for a small group of clients & newsletter readers. The goals of the group were incredibly diverse — from hitting their first six figures in their business to having their first child or finally quitting their job to work on their passion project, we covered a lot of ground.
Despite the anxiety of a war breaking out, energy restrictions, global supply problems and ongoing effects of the pandemic, many of these attendees have smashed through their 2022 goals after completing this workshop.
Now that it is the end of the year I checked in with some of the attendees on how the the session influenced their 2022:
“At the start of January 2022 I said I was going to quit my job in tech, move to Berlin, and launch my own online course by June. And I did it! The vision and intention session with Ellen helped me map out the personal and professional milestones I needed to hit month by month to make this happen”
— Alice
“This vision and goals session allowed me to identify my biggest goals and how to focus on them. I executed the whole marketing plan I set up during this session and stuck to it throughout 2022, which led to a fully booked client base!”
— Eliza
“I found this session so helpful. One of the goals I wrote for this year was to focus more on my speaking, and land a TEDx talk — which I was able to do in October! Would 100% recommend to anyone looking for some clarity & actionable takeaways”
— Eleanor
Attendees from this session have experienced major life and career shifts this year, and amongst that small group there have since been two new pregnancies, too.
Whilst I can’t take any credit for those(!) I do know that this process is much more than just setting ‘career goals’. It’s about building intuition about what’s possible for your life and career in the year ahead.
On a personal front, my 2022 was not just about growing my business in its third year (client base, this newsletter and online summit) but also living and working in four continents whilst meeting incredible people along the way. I head back to the UK soon after arguably the best year of my life. These experiences didn’t fall into my lap, I planned every step and made sacrifices along the way.
You too can turn your dreams into reality.
Will obstacles derail you? Will it look different than you’d expected? Will it be hard?
Of course.
But without a plan to begin with, you will remain directionless and more likely to succumb to the whims of the world and other peoples’ plans for your life.
A plan with an action and a deadline becomes a reality, giving you the power and momentum you need to change your life.
So what reality do you want to influence for your entrepreneurial career next year?
For me, it’s a fully booked 1-1 coaching practice, starting The Ask YouTube channel, running brand partnerships and something else soon to be announced. Whilst it's a lot, I have the plans, team members, and foundations set up ready to go. Whether or not I’ll succeed on all fronts… stay tuned for a December 2023 review post to find out 😉
How did I decide on my 2023 goals?
It starts with the hardest part of it all — actually knowing what you want.
Any kind of progress and achievement requires you nail three pillars:
Clarity about what you want
Self belief that this is possible
The tools for making these dreams a concrete plan that you turn to action
Your guide for planning through uncertainty
This resource is designed to take you through deciding what you want to happen in 2023. It guides you through the process of setting clear guidelines, milestones and to-dos for each of your big, hairy, audacious goals… so you can be as lucky as possible.
This planning process is done on a quarterly basis, to account for changes that inevitably crop up, so you can adjust course but ensure you don’t derail yourself for an entire year.
You can plan your year at any time but I recommend putting yourself into a positive state before you begin. December or January make a lot of sense for obvious reasons, but you can plan ahead whenever the mood strikes you.
It’s completely free — go download your planning template here.
Support, accountability and community as you plan ahead
You don’t need my help doing this exercise or using the free guide.
It’s designed to be self-explanatory and DIY. However, it’s likely that the attendees from The Ask’s workshop earlier this year might not have seen their various visions come to life if they hadn’t attended this session live.
Joining a real-time coaching session with me ensures you will:
Carve out intentional time in your busy schedule to really think about the year ahead, and get the planning done to guide your entire year. (This is very different to just having a resource saved to your downloads folder on your computer you never get around to using)
Work through a powerful visualisation exercise to get you into a state of deep self belief and possibility, ahead of making these plans. The mindset is key when it comes to setting vision and goals.
Receive expert coaching in your planning process, along with the encouragement you need to dream big. This ensures your plan is both actionable and realistic (not overly ambitious OR playing too small). Many ‘aha, I know what I need to do now!’ moments arise through working with an unbiased thought partner.
Commit your goals to paper, and share with a community of others pursuing entrepreneurial careers, thus increasing the likelihood of success.
Receive a bonus accountability check-in one month later, so you aren’t left to overthink and second-guess yourself (and do nothing about the plan).
Sound good?
For more help on your own entrepreneurial career journey, buy yourself a ticket to The Ask’s 2023 Vision & Planning session on 9th January 2023. A 90 min session at 7pm GMT / 12pm EST.
You’ll get some pre-session prep questions, live coaching and follow-up accountability. You can save 30% if you book before 9th December with the code, EARLYBIRD. Spaces limited. You’ll also get some pre-session prep questions and follow-up accountability. First come first serve.
Remember, planning is one of the most important strategic actions that you can take in your entrepreneurial career. It’s the glue that holds a business or a career path together and will provide you with inspiration and momentum for the year.
I’d love to see you at the workshop, and if you have any questions about preparing for the year ahead, please do reach out, you can respond directly to this email or here from the browser.
Happy planning and I’ll be back in your inboxes in two weeks’ time!
Ellen Donnelly, Founder + Chief Coach, The Ask.
I did not find any helpful insight from your planning template. Moreover you should keep your blog short and structured as I found it difficult to access the template.