There came a moment for me at the end of 2021, mid 2022, when I realized that the way I was planning my business was not benefiting my life.

I was on the edge of burnout. I was building a business that wasn't aligned with how I actually wanted to build it. I didn't want a giant team, and I was setting revenue goals that didn't match the life I wanted to live, the day-to-day life I wanted to live.

And as someone who is very gung-ho and ambitious, I was compromising different aspects of my life to hit those goals.

I sat there and thought, how the hell did I get here?

And I realized I'd fallen back into those traditional planning methods. The rigid, pick-a-number-that-sounds-impressive-but-has-no-meaning planning methods.

Sound familiar?

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Why Traditional Goal Setting Fails Creative Entrepreneurs

Traditional goal setting fails us, and I'm talking specifically to you creative entrepreneurs, creative business owners, the people building personal brands and putting something meaningful into the world.

You're driven by creativity. You love creating content, creating offers, creating solutions. And the traditional rigid ways of planning? They don't work for people like us.

Here's why:

Most people set goals based on what they think they should be doing.

Raise your hand if you're a recovering perfectionist like me. I can't see you, but I feel it. There's so much should in our businesses. What we should be doing, where we should be at, what we should be achieving, how we should have a team by now.

And it can be really hard to face those shoulds and instead look inward to determine what you actually need to be doing, what you want to be doing.

When those don't match up? That's when you start to wonder: Am I cut out for this? Can I really break all the rules?

But here's the thing, when we don't challenge the should, when we don't ask ourselves "is this actually aligned with who I am and how I want to live my life?", that's when the problems start.

The consistency falls off. You abandon your goals in February or March because they're not actually connected to who you are.

The Million Dollar Mistake I Made

Let me tell you a story.

I hit $300,000 cash in my business and I decided I was going to hit a million dollars. Just like that. I picked the number out of thin air, honestly because most of my peers were hitting that number and I wanted to do it too.

So I figured out how to get there. I built a big team. I shifted my entire business. I set myself up for a million dollar year.

And it didn't happen.

There are a lot of reasons it didn't happen, but I slowly realized that the person I needed to become to hit a million dollars? There were so many things I needed to go through before I could get there.

I'm sitting here on this podcast right now telling you that I am absolutely ready for a million dollar cash year. I don't know if it's gonna happen in 2026, but I know I'm ready.

That took three years.

Three years of therapy, getting my health in order, becoming a homeschool mama, restructuring my business. Lots of things shifted.

But here's what became very clear to me: if I would have slowed down, if I would have really asked myself what feels like an identity I can step into right now, it would not have been a million dollars.

And looking back, I know that now.

It's not that it wasn't possible. I've seen people go from $100K to a million. But it was not going to happen for me based on the work I needed to do.

The Identity-First Approach to Goal Setting

That story, that year, that's how I shifted my entire method of planning. That's why I teach what I teach now.

The identity-first approach.

Because when you actually slow down and start with who you need to become, who you want to become? You can set goals that match that.

If I had really paused at that moment when I hit $300K, I would have realized something: I was so tired. I needed a break.

Instead of asking "how can I ride this $300K wave and create more sustainable systems," I picked a million dollars out of thin air and expected myself to somehow catapult into that.

But I didn't actually want that. I wasn't ready to receive it.

Your goals should be a natural extension of who you're becoming.

That's why the vision work is so powerful. That's why you've got to do this deeper work. (Sound familiar to my approach to branding? Same energy.)

Who Are You at the End of 2026?

Here's what I want you to do right now:

Close your eyes. (Okay, maybe don't close them if you're reading this. But get present.)

It's December 31st, 2026.

Who are you? What are you celebrating? Who are you surrounded by? What are you wearing? Where are you? What does it feel like?

Really imagine that version of you.

Now think quickly, the faster, the better with this piece, what are you celebrating having achieved?

The things that come BAM out of you? Those are the truth. That's your intuition cutting through all the outside noise.

Write down 3, 5, 10 things. Whatever comes up. The more specific, the better.

Now ask yourself about that version of you:

What do they believe about themselves?
What are their values?
What are they prioritizing?
How are they feeling in their different roles? (Entrepreneur, parent, partner, friend, etc.)

Because here's the thing: when your goals match your identity, they will feel effortless to pursue.

Let me be crystal clear, the work will still be there. You're being challenged to grow. But it won't feel like a constant uphill climb where nothing is working and it's always hard.

This Is About Evolution, Not Transformation

You're not going to wake up on January 1st and suddenly be that person.

I'm not the same person I was when I started my business in 2016. In fact, and I didn't even realize this until I was recording this episode, you're receiving this on December 23rd. Ten years ago on this exact day, I gave birth to my son. I became a mother and began the process of my own rebirth.

A few months later, I started my business.

I'm not that person anymore. Thank God. I'm not even who I was in 2018. I'm nowhere near who I was in 2020. I'm not even the same person I was in January of this year.

Every single day, I'm thinking about who I need to become.

Not just for the next year, but for the next five years. The next ten years.

And that's what I want for you, to give yourself the grace and permission to evolve into that new identity. It doesn't happen overnight. It happens through small, consistent choices that compound over time.

Looking Back So You Can Move Forward

Before we step into the new, we need to look at what we're leaving behind.

Take some time to reflect on these questions:

What did you accomplish that you're proud of?
I'm really gonna challenge you here. Even if you didn't hit your main goal, what did you achieve?

What went right this year?
What felt good? What worked?

What went wrong?
What didn't play out the way you thought it would?

What did you learn about yourself this year?

What felt draining or out of alignment?
This is big. WHY did it feel that way? Is it not serving you anymore? Did something you used to love stop working?

(For me? I made a commitment at the end of last year that I would not host a damn webinar in 2025. And I didn't. Full stop. Because I hated doing them.)

What brought you the most joy in your work?

This reflection tells a story if we actually listen to it.

Release What's No Longer Serving You

In order to step into the new version of you, you have to release the old beliefs, habits, and identities that don't align anymore.

This could look like:

I release the version of me that hustles until I burn out
I release the belief that I need to do it all myself
I release the identity of the entrepreneur who doesn't take breaks
I release the version of me who's afraid to fail, who's afraid to stand out

For me, this year was very much a releasing year. Releasing the beliefs I had around how I needed to run a business, what I needed to be offering. Moving from my Girl Boss era to my Soft Girl era and finally saying fuck the eras, I'm writing my own rules.

This creates space for who you're becoming.

Write down what you're releasing. And if you're into the woo of it all (I am), write these on a piece of paper and burn them safely. We're right around the winter solstice, it's a powerful time for release. Watch those beliefs float away.

Choose Your Word for 2026

The final piece of this process is choosing a word or theme for the year.

Think of it as a guiding light. A filter for your decisions. When something comes up, you can ask: does this match how I wanted to feel this year?

Some examples: Aligned. Ease. Becoming. Expansion. Rest. Focus.

What feeling do you want to experience this year?

At the end of 2026, what do you want to say you felt? What do you want to say you honored?

Your word should connect to your future identity.

I'm still deciding on my 2026 word, I usually don't pick until the 31st. I float around with a few and then trust my intuition. (Which was actually my word this year: Intuition. I wanted to trust myself more. And I did.)

When you go through the steps I just shared, the visualization, the reflection, the release, it's going to be a lot easier to pick an aligned word. Not just one you saw on the internet.

Your Action Steps for This Week

Here's what I want you to do:

Choose your word or theme for 2026
Write down what you're releasing from your previous identity

If you did the other pieces (the visualization, the reflection), amazing. But these two things are going to set you up for success in next week's episode.

Because next week, we're talking about setting revenue goals that actually mean something. $100K, $500K, $30K, they're just numbers until you connect them to what they're actually funding in your real life.

We're going to walk through the Good/Better/Best Framework that I've been using for years, and you're going to map out exactly where your money is going.

Not just something you're picking out of thin air or something you saw someone else share on social media. (I'm not calling you out, but I'm just saying, we're taking a different approach.)

Want to go deeper? If you want the complete workbook with all the prompts, templates, business audit frameworks, and audio trainings, check out Brand New Plan. It's only available once a year and it's $67 right now.

This is just the intro into that deeper work. Brand New Plan walks you through my complete 7-module planning system, everything we're covering in this series and so much more.

See you next week for Episode 2.

Michelle

Tune in now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube Podcasts to hear the full episode and all the tips.

P.S. Ready to build a revenue-generating brand? One that not only stands out online but also makes it easier than ever to create high-value content? Tune in to my free brand class and learn my Build a Better Brand Method. Watch now at brandmerry.com/class.

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