What Do You Want Your Life to Look Like Next Year?

We’re getting to that point in the year when people start talking about finishing strong, hitting Q4 goals, and planning for next year.

And listen, I’m a planner. I LOVE a good plan.

But I think we’re sometimes a little too quick to jump into what we want to accomplish Nxt without taking the time to look at what this year has already taught us.

Because before you decide what you’re going to do in the new year, there’s another question worth asking:

How do I want to work, live, and spend my time differently next year?

And if you share your life—or your business—with someone else, there’s another pretty important question:

What do we want next year to look like together?

That conversation can get lost when we’re busy making individual plans, setting goals, running businesses, managing households, and taking care of whatever needs our attention that day.

But the decisions we make about what’s Nxt rarely affect only us.

You Know More Than You Did in January

Think about where you were at the beginning of this year.

You probably had some plans, goals, and a pretty good idea of how you thought the year would go.

And then you lived it.

Some things worked out the way you hoped, and plenty probably didn’t. Priorities shifted, relationships changed, unexpected opportunities showed up, and somewhere along the way, you learned a few things about yourself. Maybe even that something you thought you wanted doesn’t feel quite as important anymore.

Or maybe nothing dramatic happened at all. You simply started noticing that the way you’re working or living doesn’t fit you quite as well as it used to…

That matters.

We tend to give a lot of attention to the things we can measure: the promotion, the revenue goal, the project we finished, the trip we finally took, the decision we made.

But there’s a whole lot of useful information in the things that are harder to measure.

Think about the conversations you finally had, the boundaries you started setting, or the relationships you gave more attention to. Think about what you learned, what you started exploring, and the ideas you finally stopped dismissing.

Somewhere in there, you may have started asking yourself a bigger question:

What do I want more of in my life?

You may not know exactly what you want to do about the answer yet.

You don’t have to.

Take Stock of the Whole Life

When I work with clients, I ask them to look at three areas: Work, Relationships and Lifestyle.

Because they’re all connected, and I don’t think you can really figure out what you want Nxt without looking at the whole picture.

Start with Work. What did you accomplish this year that you’re proud of? Where did you grow? What did you learn? What gave you energy? And what took more out of you than you want to admit? Maybe you’ve even started questioning something you’ve done successfully for a long time.

Then look at Relationships. Which ones grew stronger? Where did you show up differently? Did you make enough room for the people who matter to you? Is there a relationship that needs more attention—or one you’ve realized needs something different from you moving forward?

And if there’s a partner in your life, what do they want? Have you actually talked about what each of you wants this Nxt chapter to look like? You don’t have to want exactly the same things, but it’s pretty hard to create a life together if you haven’t talked about what you’re each trying to create.

And then there’s Lifestyle. How did you actually spend your days this year? Not how you intended to spend them…how did you REALLY spend them? Did the way you lived reflect what you say is important to you? Did you make room for the things that make you feel most like yourself? What do you wish you’d had more time for?

You don’t have to turn every answer into a goal.

Simply pay attention.

Your Nxt Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum

This is something I think we forget when we start thinking about making a change.

You might be ready to leave a career, sell a business, retire, start something new, move somewhere different, or simply change the way you spend your time.

Those may feel like individual decisions.

But if you share your life with someone, your Nxt becomes part of their Nxt, too.

I’ve found that bringing your partner into the conversation early can open up possibilities you might never get to on your own. What does each of you want? What are you excited about? What are you worried about? Where are your ideas aligned? And where might you need to figure some things out?

The same can be true with business partners. One person may be ready for growth while the other is ready to step back. Or you may both know something needs to change but have very different ideas about what that change should look like.

Those conversations matter.

Before You Make Another Plan

We high-achieving types have a funny habit. We notice something we want to change and immediately decide we need a goal, a spreadsheet, a five-step plan and probably a deadline.

I get it.

But before you do any of that, spend some time with what this year has already shown you—the things that worked and you want more of, the things that surprised you, what you’re ready to do differently, and what you’re perfectly happy leaving behind.

And if there’s someone else whose life is going to be affected by those answers, ask them some of the same questions.

You might be surprised by what you learn.

You Don’t Need the Whole Answer

One of the things I see all the time with clients is the belief that they should already know.

They should know whether to leave the job. Sell the business. Retire. Start something new. Move. Stay. Change direction.

But if you already knew exactly what to do, well, you probably wouldn’t be wrestling with it.

Sometimes doubt simply means there’s more information you need.

So get curious instead of forcing an answer. What do you know now? What don’t you know yet? What would you need to learn or experience before making a decision? What is your head telling you? Your heart? Your gut?

Clarity doesn’t always arrive as one big answer. Sometimes it shows up as a better question, a possibility you hadn’t considered, a conversation that changes your thinking, or enough information to take one step and see what you learn from there.

That’s still progress.

Sometimes It Helps to Figure It Out Together

People often come to The Immersion thinking they need to figure out one thing, and usually it has something to do with work.

And yes…we talk about work.

But before long, that whiteboard starts filling up with a whole lot more.

We talk about relationships, how you spend your time, where you thrive, what’s most important to you, what you need more of, what’s getting in your way, and what possibilities you may not have given yourself permission to seriously consider before.

Some people come to The Immersion alone. Others come with their partner or business partner because whatever they’re trying to figure out affects both of them. Either way, we look at the whole picture: Work, Relationships and Lifestyle.

If you’re ready to give yourself the time and space to figure out what’s Nxt—or there’s someone important you want to bring into that conversation with you—I’m currently booking Immersions into 2027. Let’s talk.