← The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business
The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business
916: How to End the Year Without Burning Out: The Reset Plan Every Entrepreneur Needs
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The Digital Course Academy doors are open right now at jennacutcher.com forward/dca DCA is Amy Porterfield's complete system that takes you from idea to profitable course to successful launch, step by step by step. This exact program launched my first online course and changed basically everything for me this year. When you join dca, you'll also get four rounds of human feedback Feedback, real experts reviewing your course outline, sales page and launch plan, giving you strategic input so you can move forward fast. Plus, there are AI tools trained on Amy's framework to help when you're stuck. It's basically like having Amy in your back pocket. This isn't watch and hope, it's a finish line focused program when you Enroll. Now through jennacutcher.com DCA I'm adding my entire course business blueprint as your bonus. I'm talking my proven email funnels, launch templates, sales systems that convert without feeling pushy, everything I use to run my multimillion dollar online course business, yours to copy and customize. Amy teaches it. I've done it. You get both. While everyone else is googling how to create an online course you'll be launching with proven tools that work, Doors close soon, no extensions. Head to jennacutcher.com DCA so you can stay, stop waiting and start building. Your course won't create itself, but with Amy's system and my bonuses, it almost will. Jennacutcher.com DCA Today's episode is sponsored in part by Skims, LinkedIn, Mercury and Greenlight. I've been a Skims fan for years and the Fits Everybody collection is a favorite that I just keep reaching for. Shop the Skims Fits Everybody collection@skims.com Gold digger stop wasting budget on the wrong audience and start targeting the right professionals only on LinkedIn ads. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free 250 credit for the next one at LinkedIn.com goal Mercury streamlines your banking and finances in one place so you can focus on growing your online business. Visit mercury.com to apply online in 10 minutes. Teach your kids real world money skills with Greenlight. Start your risk free trial today@greenlight.com Golddigger as always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show Notes. Now let's dive on in. If you're feeling the pressure to squeeze every last drop out of the year, even though you're already running on fumes, this episode is for you. I'm going to show you how to finish the year aligned, not burned out and why? Your best move right now might be to slow down on purpose. I'm Jenna Kutcher, and I help you trade hustle for purpose and build a business that gives you the life you actually want to live. From a $300 Craigslist camera to a seven figure business I run from home, I've learned that success isn't just about what you do. It's about how you live. Here, you'll get strategies that work, systems that give you your time back, and steps that turn your effort into results and impact. If you're ready for clarity, confidence, and a business that feels as good as it looks, you're in the right place. This is the Gold Digger podcast. Okay, can we just get real for a second? Like, this time of year, I feel like it feels like you're trapped in someone else's productivity fever dream. The school year starts if you're a parent, or maybe you work in the education system. Maybe. Maybe your inbox explodes as people start sitting at their desks more and finding their routines. LinkedIn is full of people talking about crushing Q4, and suddenly you're scrolling through everyone's final push post thinking, okay, wait, how is it almost the end of the year and I still feel like I'm running behind. If that's you, let me just say you're not alone in that feeling. Maybe you're looking at your January goals and they feel like they were written by a stranger that has 1,000% happened to me, where I was like, who is this girl who wrote these things down? Or maybe you've been duct taping your business together with tutorials and templates and straight up hope, and you're exhausted, working so hard with so little to show for it. Or maybe you've been keeping so many plates spinning that even thinking about finishing strong feels like just another item on an already impossible to do list. Okay, so here's my hot take. The entire concept of quote, finishing strong is broken. This kind of assumes that you should be sprinting to some imaginary finish line, cramming in more, more goals, more launches, more sales, more content, more everything. Because somehow December 31st is magical. And then we hit January 1st and it's this total, complete reset. But here's what I think. What if I told you that's actually the least strategic thing that I think you could do right now? Now, I've been there. Like, I have set all of the shiny goals. I've set the shiny revenue goals. I have chased the big launches. I have said yes to way too much and I'm really lucky I've hit some of those big numbers. And I've also still felt weirdly disconnected from those wins, like I was almost performing someone else's version of success. And that's why I don't really subscribe to this idea that we should hustle to the finish anymore. Instead, I think that this time of year is calling us to something different, something new. A reset. A reset Strategically, a reset. Intentionally and honestly, I'm gonna call it a little rebelliously. This episode is not about making you do more. It's about guiding you to choose better and to start thinking of this season as a bridge and not a cliff you gotta jump off of. So here's what we're going to do together today. We're going to identify what is actually working in your business right now. I want to talk through the quiet winds that you're probably overlooking. And I also want to help you release the stuff that is absolutely stealing your energy without giving you anything back. Then I want to show you exactly how I shift my routines and my habits right now. Right now, in this calendar year, before January hits, so that I'm not walking into the new year feeling like there's this blank page, but also this burnout baggage. And then lastly, I wanna talk about why saying no to 10 good ideas in favor of one bold aligned move might be the most strategic thing you do all year. This is about getting realigned with what you actually want from your life, from your work. And it's about redefining what finishing strong truly means. And guess what? It might not look anything like what Instagram is telling you it should. So if you are ready to finish a year on purpose, with clarity, with boundaries, and with momentum, that actually lasts. This is for you. Let's dig in. When I was dreaming up this episode, I kind of was thinking that this is a slightly hot take. I'm not talking about, like, piping hot, but I'm talking that it's a different take than maybe we've witnessed. Because for some reason, as a business owner, I. I feel like Q1 and Q4 get all the glory, right? Like, Q1 is that beautiful fresh start that we all love. I am a girl who loves to claim any sort of a reset. Give it to me. Give me a Monday. Give me the first of the month. Give me January 1st. I'll take them all. But I also don't want to enter the new year feeling depleted. I want to be energized. I want to feel vibrant. I want to feel on Fire and aligned. All of those things matter so much more. So I decided to sit down and I mapped out what I think are six amazing things that you should really focus on as this year winds down. And I think if you do even just a few of these six things, you are going to enter 2026 with a whole different energy. So the first hot take is this, I'm sorry to say, you don't need another goal. What you need is a filter and the courage to use it. Okay, here is something that literally nobody talks about, and I wish they would. I have done all the shiny goals, right? Like, I have had six figure launches. I have had the milestone moments that are impressive, right? Like they perform well on social media. I've done all of those and some of them felt completely flat. I have been talking about this for years. Like, I want a life that doesn't just look good. I want a life that feels, feels good. And I think oftentimes as entrepreneurs, we are people who are seeking validation and we're chasing proof. Like, we want evidence that what we're doing is the right thing. And we want people to see that we are successful. We want to prove them all wrong, and in the same breath, we want to prove that we are worth betting on. And all of that is lovely and well. But oftentimes, if we're chasing proof, we're not in alignment. If you have ever hit a goal or a milestone and you thought that your life was going to feel so different, that everything was going to suddenly change and you were disappointed because you reached the peak of the mountain and the view wasn't what you thought it was going to be, you likely were building someone else's version of success. And then when you arrived, you're like, well, why doesn't this fit? Why doesn't it feel good? I thought this would be different. I feel like, especially as women, this happens way too often and we don't talk about it nearly enough. Productivity expert Cal Newport talks about this in his book, and his book is Slow Productivity, which is something I can 1000% get behind. And basically what he says is that he says that most of us are suffering from what he likes to call pseudo work, which is essentially the feeling of being busy without actually moving towards meaningful outcomes. Whoa. How many of us can relate to that? I feel like I have been doing therapy over the last two years just to unwire this idea of pseudo work. Like it creeps in all the time. Even last night, Drew was in a bocce ball league with my dad. My grandpa, my brother, my brother in law, and my uncle. It's the cutest thing ever. And so on Monday nights, after I get the girls to bed, we call it mommy put down night, which is every night, but usually it's the both of us putting them down, but we do mommy put down. And then I just cracked my laptop and got right back to work. And it was like I had already worked a full day. Pseudo work pops in all the time. It takes more work for me to rest than it does to work. Work is just like easy. It's autopilot, right? And I have had to really focus on unwiring this and also just noticing when it creeps in, like last night. And so this thought has helped shift things for me. This idea of instead of asking, what should I achieve? I have started to ask myself, how do I want to feel as I'm achieving it? And while working after the kids go to bed is absolutely not the norm in my world, I kind of smiled because last night I had Bachelor in Paradise on. I had some chia pudding with honey next to me and I was just smiling. The dog was snuggled in and, like, I was comfortable, content, and I was inspired. And so I had a different sort of consciousness in the work that I was doing late into the evening because I was excited about something. I was writing emails and I just got so on a roll that I was like, I am gonna keep going. This is so fun. And I went to bed last night and I was telling Drew, I'm like, I got so much done today. And so again, it's shifting from, like, what should I achieve? To, like, how do I actually wanna feel? How do I wanna move through this as I'm achieving it? And so it's changed the way that I've set goals. And it's also kind of given me a filter. So now every single goal, through what I like to call the life giving test, will this give me life or will it take away from it? And obviously this sounds really simple, but I think it's revolutionary when you actually adopt it in. Because when you start asking yourself that question and you honestly answer it, you start to realize how much energy you've been pouring into goals that were never really yours to begin with. And so I literally have this three part filter. It's kind of like a framework for me to make decisions, to write down my goals, to make sure that I'm staying in alignment throughout the entire year. And the three part filter is this. The first part is peace. Does this support my nervous system or does it activate my stress response? I can so quickly in my body feel when my cortisol is rising, when I'm getting anxious, when I am moving towards like obsessive tendencies about something, like I can feel. So does it support my nervous system being balanced or does it activate my stress response? The second filter is profit. Does this move my business forward in a meaningful way? Or is it just busy work that maybe has revenue potential? And then the third one is purpose. Does this align with the impact I want to make? Or am I just checking boxes? And I am someone who is like so opposed to checking boxes, but I recognize that as someone who is also way more systemized and optimized when it comes to my business. Oftentimes we can just create this cycle that we get on without ever pausing to be like, wait, is this working? Is this still life giving? Is this still aligned? And so if a goal doesn't touch at least one of these, and ideally I would love it to work with all three of them, then I am starting to just let those goals go. Like they don't make the cut. Period. Right? And so for this first section of you do not need another goal. You need to filter. Here's your homework. So I want for you to look at either the goals you set on January 1st, or look at the goals you're currently working towards. And I want for you to audit them. And I want for you to be ruthless in the audit. Look at everything on your Q4 list and ask yourself which of these actually serve the season that I'm in right now. Right? Because our lives change so much from January 1st to now? Which ones are the shoulds or the things I think will look good but might not feel good? And which goals am I doing because I think I'm supposed to, not because I actually want to? Maybe someone you admire is doing them, maybe your friends are doing them, maybe you've heard somebody like myself talk about them. Which ones am I doing? Because I think I'm supposed to. So just audit your goals. And throughout this episode, I'm going to drop. Why? I think less is truly more. But I think this audit is a really great place to start because you are not the same person you were when this year started. And your goals should reflect your growth, your evolution, and your desire for alignment. And I truly believe that. And so let's say you run that audit and you land with three to four goals that you want to achieve in this final quarter of the year. After that, here's what I would say Run the life giving test. So for each goal that is still standing, ask yourself, is this going to give me life or is it going to take from it? Be super honest. What is this going to look like? Are you going to be working over the holidays when your kids or your parents want you present? Are you going to be hustling over the weekend? Like, what does that look like? And so I would say that one or two deeply aligned goals are going to create way more momentum than stacking five or six half hearted ones that are draining your energy and basically leaving you empty as you end this year. And when you focus on goals that actually pass your filter with utter honesty, you are not just getting more done, you're building a year that feels like it was designed for you. For you. Not the people watching you, not for your friends and family, not for the highlight reel, but designed specifically for you. Where you are at, where you want to go, how you want to show up and serve the impact you want to make. Nothing feels better than running a business that is tailor made for you. And so my rebellion here is calling out and I'm just saying you don't need to stack on more goals. What I would say is you need the courage to eliminate the wrong ones and be ruthless. Just be ruthless in it. Number two is the revenue reality check. So let's talk about what is actually making you money versus what's just making you tired. And it's interesting because when I think about these last 90 days, I feel like so many people are focused on pacing, right? Like, here's what you gotta do in order to get these things done. But before we even get to that point, I think it is so critical, like we would be silly to not talk about profit because here's something I've learned the hard way is not all revenue is created equal. Okay? I used to look at my income statements and just kind of see like, awesome, here's the money I made this month. But one thing that I've gotten really good at, especially lately is breaking down. Where is that revenue coming from and how much effort and energy is tied to it. Sometimes you can be making revenue that is absolutely exhausting you. And that's what I like to call busy revenue instead of aligned revenue. And trust me, any money coming in is amazing, especially in this economy, especially with uncertainty. Don't get me wrong, but there is something incredible that happens when you start to identify what is busy revenue and what is aligned revenue. And how can I tip this scale more in the zone of aligned revenue right I'm not telling you, like, shut down profitable revenue streams so that you can stay in alignment. No, that's not what I'm saying. But let me just kind of differentiate these two so that you can start to imagine what it would look like if you could tip the scales more into the aligned side. So busy revenue is essentially money that you make that keeps you trapped on the hamster wheel. It could be the hundred dollar course that requires 20 hours of customer service. It's the client work that pays well but literally sucks your soul out of your body. It's the affiliate income from promoting things that you don't actually love. Right. It's, can you see? It's money that comes in, but there's like a different frequency or a different energetic exchange happening where maybe you're questioning, is this really worth it for me? Or like, sure, this is a paycheck, but it doesn't really feel great in my body. Interesting. Pay attention to those feelings for me. Aligned revenue comes from systems that are intentionally set up, that are thoughtfully serving while you do important work, while you rest, while you spend time with your family. It could be the course that essentially sells and delivers itself. It's the client work that literally lights you up and reminds you why you started in the first place. It's a products that people buy because they genuinely solve problems that you care about solving. There's this business strategist, her name is Kat Norton, and she basically puts it this way, revenue without sustainability is just expensive, busy work. And I think that so many entrepreneurs have turned into workers and not founders. They have stepped onto the hamster wheel and not even recognizing that they're on it. And they are just churning out work. They're not ideating, they're not being visionaries, they're not really thinking about sustainable business practices that keep them in alignment. So this is what I call the revenue reality audit. So instead of looking at like since January 1st, which can be really overwhelming, although if you have not gone into your financial statements, do it. This is something you should literally be looking at every single month, if not more frequently than that. Last night I was literally going through our P and L statements, comparing year to year, looking at all those things. But let's just start with your last three months of income. And here's what I want for you to do. Look at all the ways that you're making income and if you aren't currently categorizing it in your books, like whether you're using QuickBooks or an accountant or you're Doing it yourself. Make sure that you are categorizing your income and if it is categorized, here's what I want for you to do. Put everything into three different buckets. So there is energy giving revenue. So what made you money and like absolutely filled you up, lit you up. What felt aligned and sustainable, like you would do this if you didn't get paid. Then there's energy neutral revenue. What made you money, but it felt like work. It wasn't terrible, but not super exciting either. That's just like energy neutral. Like you're like, yeah, I made money, that's cool. Then there is energy draining revenue. What made you money but left you exhausted, resentful or questioning your life choices. Maybe you're thinking about updating your resume and getting back out into the job market. Like those are the energy drains. Okay, now when you start to separate things out, here's what most people discover. They are working twice as hard because they're chasing revenue streams that don't actually serve their bigger vision or, or don't actually energize them. And so what I think is an amazing thing to do, especially at this time of year, especially as we enter into this last quarter, is to audit your revenue sources right now. Which ones pass that life giving test? Which ones are you just doing because you think you should or because it's quote, easy money, but it's easy money that leaves you exhausted? The goal I have for you for Q4 is to focus on growing the energy, giving revenue and then looking at how do you strategically eliminate or restructure the energy draining stuff? Because making money at the expense of your sanity. I will argue that's not a business model. That is a straight up burnout plan. And I've watched way too many entrepreneurs subscribe to that plan and then fall flat or close their business or go back into the job market because it just didn't give them the life they wanted. So do that audit and then figure out how you can focus on this. I am actually doing this on an almost monthly basis in terms of pulling in my product and loss statements and then really taking a good hard look at like what money like. Felt like it was just flowing in a good way. I was excited. I was energized by it. Where are areas in my business that I maybe want to cut back on or eliminate entirely? So it's just a really good idea, especially before you hit the new year. Okay, number three, this one to me is important and you might laugh. I've gotten made fun of for using this Word too much. But I am tossing it in to this episode because it is for you. And I think it makes total sense. So I have heard of like the last 90 day sprint, right? It's just this idea of like, we are gonna run across the finish line. And I am a girly who has run full marathons. Okay, 26.2 miles. I've done it twice in my lifetime. Don't know that I'll ever do it again, but I've done it. And I always, like, picture the last point to write like you are almost there, but it feels longer than all of the miles before it. And you can see the finish line in sight and your body is starting to shut down because you know you're almost there. I don't want to enter the new year that way. Whether it's metaphorically or literally, I just don't want to. And so for number three, my hot take is, I think we should call this a season and not a sprint. And the idea behind this is I feel like we have to manage our energies. Like, this is the energy management revolution. Will you come with me? So can I share something a little bit vulnerable with this and why the word season is a part of my life and just why I think that this is an important take, especially at this time of year. When I became a mom nearly seven years ago, which is absolutely crazy, my big kid seems just so grown up. I swear she was just a baby. And I know people say that and you roll your eyes, but it's so true. But when I became a mom, I feel like it completely rewired my approach to productivity. And it was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. I was talking to one of my best friends the other day. She does not have children of her own. And she had like a really chill weekend where she's like, I just like stayed in bed and rested and then I got a little bit of work done and all these different things. And I was laughing because I'm like, that, that would 100 be me if I didn't have kids. But alas, I was up at 7 and felt like we lived five lifetimes before 10am Even hit the clock. And I love being a mom. And I think that being a mom for me has been a mirror in a lot of the ways that I have needed to heal myself and in a lot of the beliefs that I held about myself. And I do think that you have to be a mom to learn about yourself in this way or to heal yourself in this way. Or to hold up a mirror and say, okay, what am I getting wrong and what do I want to change and what is no longer serving me? I don't think that at all. But I want to explain to you why this part of my hot take is important to me. Because I had this idea that I've stood behind ever since I became a mom. I was talking about it seven years ago, is that I had to adopt this belief that I could hit the brake pedal and trust myself to know and remember where the gas pedal was. And when I first became a mom, it was at this time in my career where I could have easily believed the lie that, like, I was building momentum and I was on my way to the top and all these silly things that don't even make sense and aren't even true. And I could have believed all of that and that could have kept me running ragged, right? But I learned to trust myself and believe that, like, momentum is created and I can create momentum at any time. And so I essentially stopped flooring the gas pedal on everything, and I started learning what author and researcher, someone we love, Bernie Brown, calls sustainable intensity. I love this notion, which is essentially showing up with your whole heart without burning yourself out in the process. And I can tell you that there have been very few times in the last seven years that I've hit burnout. Most of the times I have hit burnout are around social media and just this weird pull that I have in my life where there is literally a part of me that wants to get rid of my smartphone and go to a dumb phone and get like a corded phone jack in my house to call people and to just, like, get off the Internet, which is hilarious because my business is online. I recognize this. But I also have recognized that I have built a business that has really protected me from, like, real burnout, because, trust me, I have experienced that. And so instead of thinking about sprints and, you know, hitting the finish line strong, I think about rhythms. Like, I want to move through my life with a rhythm. And what I found is that having rhythms and not these intense sprints is actually more profitable. And it's because a sustainable pace creates sustainable results. There are certain people that I know where, like, they make the majority of their annual income in like a one month timeframe. And I do not envy that at all. There is so much pressure on their performance. A lot of times they're sitting around the rest of the year hoping and praying that everything is going to go well. And if it doesn't, they're they don't really have a backup plan. And my business runs with a rhythm, whether I'm launching or not. I am technically only launching about three to four weeks out of the entire year. And the other 48 weeks of the year, my business is running with a rhythm. And so if you followed me at all over the last seven years, you might have witnessed this evolution. Maybe you didn't even recognize it. Maybe it was unconscious to you. But I am someone who I love my calendar to have wide open spaces. I don't overbook it. I design launches around my energy. I'm not just like, jumping onto, like, market opportunity. And I let seasons be seasons. And I feel like I will look back at this last decade of becoming a mom after navigating loss and all these things, and I have never felt more successful in my life. And I have also never been more aligned. Now, here's the thing that I think Hustle culture just totally leaves out. Your business needs you to be a human being and a leader and not just like a productivity machine. Because when you are constantly sprinting, you're making these decisions from depletion. When you are someone who is constantly sprinting, you are essentially making all of your important decisions from depletion. But when you're in a sustainable rhythm, you can make decisions with clarity. Like imagine, like, what do you think would serve your business better? Clarity or depletion? There's another quote that I love. So there's an entrepreneur and author. Her name is Tara McMullen. And I think she just literally lays this out perfectly. So she says productivity isn't about doing more things. It's about doing the right things in a way that honors your capacity. And that's what we're at after here. Your capacity today is different than it was on January 1st. You have changed, your life has changed, you've evolved, your needs have evolved. And so figuring out what does productivity look like right now? What is my capacity? With utter honesty. I mean, that is what we are truly after. So here are your practical steps for this one, where we are calling it a season, not a sprint. So first, choose your pace on purpose. What is genuinely sustainable for you right now? Not what do you think you should be able to handle, but what actually works in your life right now. Your energy, your health, your current season, the stage of life you're in. What is that pace? And how can it be sustainable for you for the next 90 days and beyond? Then do a calendar audit. So look again at your Q4 calendar. What needs to pause so that you can finish without completely unraveling. Like, I give you permission to disappoint the version of yourself who thought you could do it all. Like, let her down. Let her down and say, you know what? I've grown up and I've evolved and I recognize right now that this is going to be a no. This is a pass. And then lastly, design your Q4 to protect your peace, not prove your capacity. And this might be the most radical thing I say in this entire episode. Your worth is not measured by how much you can handle before you break. Let me just say that again, you your worth is not measured by how much you can handle before you break. The goal here isn't to see how much you can squeeze in before December 31st. The goal is to finish this year feeling like the CEO of your life, not like life just happened to you. Now, before we keep going, I want for you to think about this. If your business were truly built around your energy, not the pace of the industry or the pressure of the calendar, what would your Q4 look like? Like, what would you take off of your plate right now to protect your piece? And while you let that sink in, let's take a quick break to thank the sponsors who make this conversation possible. You know that sinking feeling when you see your latest campaign report. 87% of your budget went to people who would never buy from you. Random scrollers clicking your business course ad. Students engaging with your entrepreneur content. You're perfect ad creative about building sustainable income shown to people who aren't even trying to build a business. That's why LinkedIn ads exist. While other platforms guess who might be interested. LinkedIn knows who your buyers are. Target the exact job titles making purchasing decisions. Reach VPs of marketing at Growing Companies. Find HR directors at mid sized firms. Target entrepreneurs ready to invest in their growth. Zero waste, maximum impact. Stop hemorrhaging. Budget on random audiences and start reaching actual decision makers who can write the checks only with LinkedIn ads. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com goal that's LinkedIn.com G O A L Terms and conditions apply. This podcast is brought to you by Mercury Banking that helps entrepreneurs do more with their money. When I first started taking my business seriously, I remember feeling stretched thin. I was juggling invoices, tracking payments and managing cash flow across different tools. It was messy and I thought banking had to be that way. That's why I was impressed with Mercury. Unlike traditional banking, that feels clunky and outdated. But Mercury is designed to make managing money effortless so that you can focus on what actually grows your business. Everything you need is in one intuitive product. Banking cards, spend, management, invoicing, and more all in one place. Plus, Mercury flexes to fit all types of businesses, so whether you're a funded startup agency or e commerce brand, it can be tailored to you. Visit mercury.com to join over 200,000 entrepreneurs who use Mercury. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. For important details, check the show notes. This message is sponsored by greenlight. My 6 year old woke up this morning asking if she could do chores to earn money. Why? Because she read a fancy Nancy book where Nancy worked to buy fabulous shoes. And suddenly my daughter wanted to experience the same pride of buying something special with her own money. But here's what hit me. I had no good way to help her actually see and feel her money growing. Cash gets lost, piggy banks are abstract, and she can't really understand the connection between effort and reward. That's why we started using Greenlight. Greenlight is the easy, convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and for families to navigate life together. And maybe that's why millions of parents trust and kids love learning about money on Greenlight, the number one family finance and safety app. Now when she does chores, I can instantly send her earnings to her card. She watches her balance grow in real time and feels genuine ownership over her money. And when she's ready for those fabulous shoes, she'll swipe her own card and experience that incredible feeling Nancy had. Don't wait to teach your kids real world money skills. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com golddigger that's greenlight.com goaldigger to get started greenlight.com/gold digger all right, moving on to number four. So here is something I want for you to consider. What would it look like if you moved the starting line back? Okay, I'm about to share something that might make you a little uncomfortable, but I need you to hear it. The way that you end this year is essentially training your future self. So if you finish 2025 burned out, scattered, running on fumes, that's exactly how you are programming yourself to start 2026. But if you finish this year grounded and clear and energized, let me tell you, that's the foundation you are building for your next year. This is about moving your starting line back from January 1st to right now, so let me get specific about where I see this playing out. I know exactly where my burnout lives. I already said it in this episode. It basically lives on social media. Like, I can write and create content all day long, but when I feel like I have to show up online and perform every single day, that is literally the crux of my burnout. Very little work burns me out more than that. In fact, that is really, when I think about the last seven years, that is like, the only place that I feel like I just don't want to do that anymore. So here's a stat that might surprise you. One study found that 50% of social media creators have experienced burnout, and 37% have considered quitting entirely. If you're feeling depleted by this constant pressure to show up online, let me just say you are not alone. And this overwhelm isn't a personal failing. I want for you to hear that this is not a personal failing. It is literally just a signal. There's an author and business strategist. Her name is Amber Ray. And I love how she says this. So she puts it this way. She says burnout isn't about working too hard. It's about working in misalignment with your values and energy. And let me just say, when I first heard that, it hit me straight in the chest, like, wow. It is not a sign that, like, wow, good for you. You're working so hard. It is literally a signal. Like, I imagine like a siren going off in terms of, like, hey, maybe right now this is misaligned your values and energy. And guess what? When I look at it that way, it makes total sense. Sense. So I have created what I like to call these kind of, let me think of how to say it, almost like protection rituals, which are essentially planned breaks from social, approaching my content with this batch, work creation, and then scheduled off seasons. And all of these are designed to protect my energy so I can show up as myself, not as a performance. Like, I used to show up on Instagram stories every single day. And I think that in the last six months, six months, I've probably showed up a total on Instagram stories 10 times. That's it. So here's how to build kind of your version of protection rituals. So first identify your burnout triggers. I am sure that you could list them immediately. Like, don't even pause. Just say what comes into your mind. What is consistently draining you? What are you complaining about to your loved ones? Is it constant client communication, over delivering, never logging off the comparison trap? Like what is it? What is it that just makes you feel that empty? I cannot do this anymore. Feeling then what I want for you to consider, and I think this matters regardless of if social media is a burnout place. But I'm going to guess that maybe it is, is how are you handling your consumption? So we've heard a lot of like, create before you consume. I think it's a great quote, I think it's a great line, I think it's a great idea. But how are you starting your day? Or how are you even moving through your life, activating your creativity before you're consuming in everyone else's lives and events and highlight reels. Like when I think about how much information is coming at us every single day, it is staggering, right? Your mind has to have activation, not reaction. So I got this app on my phone and it has radically transformed how I spend time on social media. Most days I will log into Instagram for a total of 10 minutes and that is essentially to get my posts created and posted before I get locked out. I'll link to the app in the show notes, but it has changed my life. It basically blacks out your apps and then if you click on them, it takes you to a space where you can either take a deep breath in and a deep breath out and then it asks you, do you still want to go to this app? Yes or no? And then how much time are you going to dedicate to it? And you can pick 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes or 10 minutes. And it locks you out at the end of it. So you really have to ask yourself, how much time do I have to waste right now? And most of the time I don't have any time to waste. And so I feel like my creativity has flourished. I don't feel so overwhelmed by what's happening in the world. And so just considering how do you protect yourself from that? And then how do you install protection rituals right now? So looking at how you're moving through your day, if you do not have a consistent routine or rhythm, it doesn't need to be perfect, it doesn't need to be 10 steps. But if you are not looking at like time blocking or deep work or screen breaks or email free days, like what helps you stay consistent without sacrificing your nervous system. And again, these aren't meant to be restrictions. They're literal investments in the sustainability of you showing up and then finally start your January habits today. Because here's what research tells us. According to a study from the University of Scranton, only 8% of people actually achieve their New Year's resolutions. But here's the kicker. People who start habit changes in October or November have a 67% higher success rate than those who wait for January 1st. 67% higher success rate. I will take that bet any day of the week. How can you start your January habits day? How can you get really clear on what do I want? Not just when January 1st hits, but today. How do I start becoming that person today? Because when you wait for a fresh start, you are literally relying on motivation instead of integration. You are trying to become someone new overnight instead of gradually becoming who it is that you want to be. James Clear, someone who I deeply respect. He talks about this in his famous book, Atomic Habits. And he says the most effective changes happen through what he calls habit stacking, where essentially you just attach a new behavior to something you already do consistently. So instead of saying, I'm starting January 1st and on January 1st I'm going to wake up at 5am and I'm going to journal for an entire hour. Maybe you start now and you say, okay, while my coffee is brewing, I'm going to write three sentences in my journal. Maybe it's one ten minute walk. Maybe it's one less scroll session. If you get the app I talk about, oh my lord, you're going to have 8 minutes million less scrolling sessions. Maybe it's one earlier bedtime, but I'm going to tell you right now. These microhabits compound and starting them right now means that when January hits, you're not starting from scratch. You are already living as the person that you want to become. So here's the identity shift here. You're not just ending a year. You are becoming the person who finishes strong without burning out. This person makes different choices. This person sets boundaries. This person values alignment over achievement. Are you with me? Can you see how important this is for number five? I feel like this is one of the most important things I have been learning and nerding out over recently, which is pick just one. One bold move to focus on considering this. Kind of like a strategic elimination game. This is a season of strategically eliminating the things that do not work for you, the things you don't want to do anymore, the things that aren't getting you results. And I have this mantra that I learned from my friend Rory Vaden, and it has transformed the way that I work and the way that I think. And he says diluted focus gets diluted results. I notice, especially as somebody with adhd, that every single time that I try to juggle multiple big goals or projects. I essentially end up getting half traction in about 10 directions. And honestly, that is when I feel most scatterbrained. That is when I get anxious, that is when my cortisol is likely raised. And it literally helps no one. I am currently reading Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan's book 10x is easier than 2x. I know I am way late to the game and I cannot stop talking about this book. And I've actually been doing audible and I listen to the book when I'm doing other things like gardening or biking. I don't know why. It's totally helps me absorb the information, just think about it in a different way. And inside the book he talks about something that has totally shifted my perspective, which is exponential growth doesn't come from working twice as hard at what you're already doing. It comes from identifying 20% of your work that creates the most impact and having the courage to eliminate the other 80%. This is like Pareto's principle, which I recorded an entire episode about before because I'm obsessed with that principle. And I think it's at play play in so many places in our business. But what we need to understand is like when we think about ruthless and strategic elimination and you think of having the courage, like, what would it take for you to be someone courageous enough to eliminate 80% of your work? I mean, the 80%, it's not bad work. It's probably just not your best work. And when you're trying to do everything, you're probably doing nothing exceptionally well, which is where I think so many of us hit burnout, where it's like, I cannot possibly add one more thing to my plate. I am doing too much. I'm not even getting all the things I need to done. How does this actually work? There's another person that I respect. His name is Greg McKeown and he's a business strategist, also an author. And he basically calls what I'm talking about the disciplined pursuit of less. And he has a book called Essentialism. It's super good. And in that book he says, if you don't prioritize your life, someone else will. That someone else might be the social media algorithms, it might be client demands, or just like the general chaos that comes with running a business. So here's my process. If you're thinking, oh my gosh, I have to pick one bold move, how do I do that? Here's what I do. So first ask the needle moving question. So this is One single question. If I could only accomplish one thing this quarter that would genuinely move my business and my life forward, what would that one thing be? Again, going back to point one. Not what looks good, not what I think I should do. What would actually matter. What is the one thing? And then you want to create a stop doing list. Do you want to know how extreme I took this concept? I imported in my Google calendar, I imported in my daily task list, like for an entire week, I imported in my profit and loss statements and I went through the ruthless elimination. And so you have to create a stop doing list. Like, I'm not talking about just clearing your calendar, I'm talking about reclaiming your energy. So what meetings, what commitments, what projects are you going to intentionally release? How can you pivot it? Like, I remember a few years ago I did a calendar audit which I do every single year. And I was recognizing that I had all of these different calls and they were all landing on different days. So it'd be like, Monday I have one call at 11am, Tuesday I have a call at 9:30 and a call at 11. Wednesday I have a call at 2pm and for my brain it was such a struggle because all I could think about were those meetings that day. I had no time to do deep work. And so when I looked at almost like a stop doing list, I had to strategically let go of either meetings and let team members lead them or be a part of them or ask can we change this so that I can batch all my meetings in one day? And it totally changed my rhythm, it changed my flow and it changed my focus, which for me, focus is really hard, right? Like it is hard for me to lock in, it is hard for me to do deep work. So a stop doing list is your first step towards progressing to a place where you are actually able to focus. And then lastly, set one clear outcome that has three supporting steps. So not a 10 step process, not a complex system, just three clear actions that support this one bold move along with deadlines that you can actually keep. Like, we're talking about realistic, I'm talking about smart goals. Like specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. What do those three actions look like and how are they smart? So this is about going deep. And I feel like my entire business, especially in recent years has really shifted from like trying to go super wide to going deeper. It's not about designing your Q4 to serve the grandiose vision of how you are going to change the world. It is to help you get in alignment to Start working towards that bigger vision, not just your to do list. And here's the truth. Saying no to 10 good ideas in favor of one aligned bold move is the most strategic thing you can do. Not just for your revenue, but for your sanity. And if you have not read 10x is easier than 2x because to me, I don't know why that title, it felt like too big. Like I was like I don't want to 10x my business. I like, I don't want like pick up that book. It is fascinating. It has really changed the way I think and it has helped me simplify my business in so many ways. And just like grab the Audible. It's super fun. And what I like about the audible is that Dr. Benjamin Hardy reads the book and then after each chapter he interviews Dan Sullivan, his co author and they just like talk through it and it's really fascinating. So that is number five. Now, before we wrap up with the habits that will protect your future self, I want to take a quick moment to thank our sponsors for supporting the show. And when we come back, I want to share how to finish this year in a way that your future self will thank you for. And guess what? It has absolutely nothing to do with your metrics. We'll be back in a minute. 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And here's something fascinating that most people don't know. The last 90 days of the year are actually the most strategic time to start new habits. It is literally the best time. Not January 1st, but the last 90 days. Okay, so there's this fascinating research which got me so excited about this episode. And it comes from Dr. Philippa Lally at University College London. And here's what she found. She found that it takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. So get this, that means if you start a habit today, by the time January rolls around, it is already integrated into into who you are, not something you're trying to become. I think a lot about my own shifts, specifically like my health shifts. I am a whole different human. One of my goals is to be the healthiest I've ever been when I enter my 40s. So I am 37. I literally went through the last part of the year thinking I was 38 until I had to do the math. I'm 37 and I'm probably in the best shape of my life and the healthiest state of my life than I've ever been in. And I only want to continue to get healthy. And I think a lot about my health habits and how it was really small, I did a lot of habit stacking. Things started to compound and my identity shifted. And it shifted in so many ways where at first I just had to ask myself, like, what would the healthiest version of myself choose in this moment? And now I am my healthiest self. Does that make sense? And so when you think of New Year's resolutions, Studies show that 23% of people quit within the first week. That is 23, that is almost a quarter percent of the people. They literally last less than a week. 43% quit by the end of January. And only 8% of people actually achieve their goals. The difference here is identity based habits versus outcome based goals. Okay, let me say that again. The difference is identity based habits versus outcome based goals. I'm going to lean back on James Clear because Atomic Habits is a number one best selling book for a million reasons. He has sold literally millions of copies. But inside of that book he says that the most effective way to change your behavior is to focus on who you wish to become, not what it is you want to achieve. And I think that's where we get it wrong, is we write down all of these goals right, but we're not actually thinking, who do I need to be to achieve that right? So instead of saying like, I want to exercise more, it's I am someone who enjoys moving my body daily, or instead of saying like, I want to be less stressed, it is I am someone who fiercely protects my energy. So for me, when I think about, like, what does finishing this year aligned look like? For me, it is a quiet and calm nervous system that isn't constantly activated. It is mental space to think strategically and not just reactively. It is margin in my morning so that I am not someone who is rushing into my day. It is energy being fully present, like with my kids, with my husband. Not just like physically in the room, but I am present. I am awake to what is happening in front of me. And those are the things that I think about. Like, I do not want to be the marathoner that is crawling across the finish line. I just don't. I want to enter the new year feeling amazing. And so here's something I want you to remember. No one is applauding your Instagram metrics at your dinner table, but the people who are closest to you absolutely feel the impact of when you're there and when you're not there. And again, not just physically there when you are with them. There's this line that I think all of us should put on a poster or a post it note and stick next to us. And it comes from author and therapist Nedra Glover Tawab. And she says something that has really stuck with me and just helped in the unwiring of wanting to be productive all the time. And she says, rest is not a reward for work completed. It is a requirement for work to be sustainable. Again, rest is not a reward for work completed. Rest is a requirement for work to be sustainable. Your future self protection plan using habit stacking looks like this. If you're like, okay, great, this all sounds good, but like, my reality doesn't look like that. Here's what we want to start with. So start with what you already do consistently. So what is something that you do every single day without fail? Maybe it's brushing your teeth, waiting for your coffee to brew, checking your phone while you wake up. Like that can be a habit stack anchor. Like, here's like a very tiny example of this. But every night when I brush my teeth, I put on my red light hat. I have a hat that's supposed to like help your hair grow and take care of your scalp. And I love red light. Drew laughs like, there's red light everywhere in our house. And so that's just one thing where it's like, when I brush my teeth, I put the hat on, then I'm kind of winding down, tidying up my room, getting the room ready. There you go. So figure out like, what do I do consistently and how can I just stack one tiny habit on it? Maybe it's having your journal next to your coffee maker. If journaling is something you want to do, like, just create those loops so that you start to see, like, well, I'm already doing this one thing. And for us productivity freaks, it works great, right? Because you're like, I'm being extra productive. Next, stack one microhabit onto that anchor. So again, maybe after your coffee brews, you write down three things that you're thankful for. Or after you brush your teeth at night, you actually tidy up your closet or put your clothes away. Or before you grab your phone in the morning, maybe you take five breaths. Or maybe you get that app I talk about and you don't even go on your phone in the morning. Like, maybe that. And then what I want you to consider is like, one thing we don't do enough Is we're so good at tracking what we do, right? Like, we're like checking things off of the list, but we're terrible at checking in on how we feel. And so what would it look like if you tracked the feeling and not just you're doing this is like kind of the thesis of why I wrote my book. How are you? Really? Is like, how do you not just keep moving through life, but like you stop to check in. And so maybe it's at the end of each day, maybe it's after working on a task, maybe it's the end of each week. Like, again, check in. How do I feel? Did this give me energy? Am I drained? What are patterns that I'm noticing? Because research shows that when you start to track your emotional state, it is absolutely more predictive of your long term success than tracking the habit itself, right? So if you're just moving through your day checking things off your list, awesome. But if you're not actually stopping to like check in on the feeling of it, you might struggle to stay consistent. That might be part of your consistency issues. The thing is, is that when you start to follow through and when you see yourself as somebody capable of following through, you build what is known as identity evidence. Every single time you do that habit, you are voting for the type of person you want to become. Like, one meditation session is evidence that you're someone who prioritizes their mental clarity. One boundary that you set firmly is evidence that you value your energy. The rebellion here is choosing to measure success by how you feel in your life, not just how you look in your business. Okay? Because sustainable success isn't about what you achieve once. It is literally about what you can maintain while still being the person you want to be. If you start these microhabits now, you are not just preparing for a better January. You are literally becoming the version of yourself who finishes strong without burning out. And that person, let me tell you, that person, they make different choices, they set different boundaries, they build businesses that serve their lives, not consume it. Like, that person is the person that I want to serve and the person that I want to be. So here is what I hope you walk away with today. You do not have to finish this year by pushing harder. You can actually finish it by choosing better. This season, it's going to tempt you. It is literally going to trick you into thinking that you have to chase more. But in reality, it is about realigning your vision, your energy and your values and letting that alignment guide what you say yes to. Can I just remind you of something. You did not start your business to burn out. You started it to build something. Something that works. Something that serves you while you serve others. So I think we stop duct taping your strategy together and finally give it the foundation it deserves. So again, here is your homework and I actually want you to do this. If you have a pen and paper nearby, write it down. If you need to, like, jot it into your phone, do the audit. Get brutally honest about what's working in your business, in your life right now, and what's not. What do you need to release to finish this year? Feeling proud of how you showed up? Choose your one bold move again. Not three goals. Not a complete life overhaul. One meaningful thing that if that is the only thing you get done before the end of the year, it has moved the needle and it is in alignment with who you are becoming. And lastly, start the future self habits now. Whatever you want your January self to be doing. The boundaries, the rhythms, the practices, the health, things like start those today. Don't wait for the calendar to give you permission. I am giving it to you right now. And frankly, you do not need my permission. But if you were waiting, here it is. Because I want for you to know that how you finish this year shapes how you start the next one. And I do not want you walking into January feeling scattered, scrambled or behind. I want you grounded and clear and energized and proud. Not just of what you accomplished, but how you did it. Let's build the system to make this sustainable. You've got it. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you have a friend and you want to move through this, practice with them. Send them this episode. Share it with them. It would be such a gift to me and a gift to them. And of course, until next time, gold diggers, keep on digging your biggest goals. But let me just say, I want to make sure you're digging in the right direction. Thanks for listening to the Goal Digger podcast. I hope today left you inspired and equipped with something you can put into action as you build a business that truly supports your life. If this episode resonated with you, here's how you can help the show reach even more entrepreneurs. Hit follow. Share it with a friend who's building something meaningful. And if you're feeling generous, leave us a review. Those reviews help other listeners discover these conversations when they need them the most. This show has become so much more than I ever imagined, and it's because of listeners like you who show up and share you are helping build something that will inspire entrepreneurs for years to come. For show notes, links and resources, head to gold diggerpodcast.com keep digging. Your biggest goals the world needs what you're building.