I have now been working for myself full time for three and a half years, my income has grown every year I'm paying myself more than I was getting paid before. I love what I do. And I cannot overemphasize just how imperfect this process has been just how much it has not gone to plan, and how often I question everything in between my own experience and the work that I have done mentoring coaching, advising dozens of entrepreneurs, I can tell you with full confidence, I truly believe that your mindset is the most important element to sustainable business growth. It's not everything. But when you are in the practice of bringing your awareness to and addressing your mindset, the external strategies fall into place in a way that it just doesn't if you are operating from old, outdated narratives. And if you are not addressing this element of things, it is going to be so hard to navigate the uncertainty of entrepreneurship and keep going when things don't go according to plan. For the first time ever, I'm running a live training, where I'm going to walk you through the five mindset shifts that I teach my clients in my signature program transcend your dichotomy training camp, you're going to learn how mindset plays into sustainable business growth. The five mindset shifts that I teach my clients to address unsustainable patterns and how you can use these shifts to get into motion toward your goals and challenge the status quo in your industry, which is what we are all about. You can go to bit.li/tyt Live to register the training is happening on February 15 2023. At 1pm Pacific Time, it's going to go for one hour, but I am going to stay later for any questions that you have. So you can block 90 minutes if you think you might have questions bit.li/t y d live to get yourself registered. You're listening to transcend your dichotomy, the podcast where we break the rules that say we have to leave ourselves behind in pursuit of success. I'm Brooke Monaghan and I created the show for purpose driven business owners. Together we'll talk about how to go for your goals have an impact, all while honoring yourself, your desires and your values. My friends, I know that I'm always like, I'm so excited to bring you this episode. I'm genuinely so excited to record this episode. I mean, I always am. But like even more than usual. And the reason for that is, I've been trying a new thing. I have been kind of experimenting with writing some podcast content in advance, sending it out to my newsletter, talking about it in my stories, and prompting y'all to respond and let me know how it's landing for you and what more you want to know about it. So that I can then directly respond to what is coming up for you on the podcast. So if you missed that, or if you're not following me on Instagram, or you're not on my email list, definitely find me on Instagram I am at Briggs Monaghan, br i GGSMONAGHAN. I have thought so many times about changing that handle, but at the end of the day is going to break every single link that I have ever linked to my Instagram page. So whatever we're rolling with it or go to Brooke dash monahan.com. Just remember, it's m o n a Ghan when you go there, and get on my email list. And you can also find my Instagram through there. Because that's going to give you the opportunity to see a little bit about like what's coming down the line, but then ask, like, what is still lingering for you. And then you can like, get my responses for free, which like, Hello. So I really enjoyed this because I have gotten a bunch of input from y'all about today's episode already, which is about overcoming the anxiety of creating a plan for the new year. And I also started talking a little bit about like the anxiety of starting to look at data. And what happens when you create a plan and then January rolls around and you had planned on hitting the ground running. We talked about this in the episode and stuff go on to go back to that and listen to that if you need her a reminder about what often happens this time of year and this conflict between what's happening naturally for your body. And what's happening culturally and societally with this expectation that you should have like a bunch of energy in the middle of the winter. Anyways. So I also started talking about like, the best ways to deal with that very real thing that happens where you've created all of these plans, and now it's January and you're overwhelmed. And it's like you feel like you need a break but like what's going to happen if you slow down so I got a bunch of responses to all of these and I'm really excited to dig in now. Before I I do, I want to mention, I said this at the very top before even getting into the intro, but maybe you're a skipper. So I'm going to tell you this. Listen, I can tell you things on this podcast like day in and day out. But it takes actual decision that you are going to like be conscious of and mindfully and actively start to shift where you're putting your focus and shift the way that you're thinking about things to really make a difference. And it takes a decision that you are going to make a change, not just like passively taking in information. So if you know that you need a little bit more support than just hearing it on here. I am running a free training on February 15, you can go to bit.li/t y d live and get yourself registered, we're talking about five mindset shifts to unleash sustainable growth in your business and spoiler, these are the mindset shifts that I focus on with my clients in transcend your dichotomy training camp. So if you have been wondering, like what goes on in this group program, like how are you actually helping people do this, come to the trading and I'm going to break it down for you and share all that with you, which I've never actually done before. That's going to that training, what I cover in that training is going to allow you to actually shift into some of the things that I'm going to talk about in today's episode, much more than just hearing the episode. So alright, let's get into it. Whether you are like a seasoned business owner, or you are just starting out, there are a few things that I really want to highlight for you regarding planning. Now, I am a planner, I am a damn good planner. In fact, planning is something that I have always loved to kind of take under my like, take take ownership over when I was working on teams when I was managing teams. And also when I was in like my project management process improvement role. I'm very good at it. And there's a few things that I think make me really good at it. First of all, I consider the human beings behind any plan. And I understand that plans are not to be followed just for the sake of following a plan. Plans are to be followed when they're actually good plans. And when you realize that the plan is not a great plan, then you should shift the plan rather than being ashamed of the fact that you're not following the plan. So there's a bunch of things that I want to touch on that, to me have always just been sort of like, I don't want to say that they've been second nature, because they haven't. But they because these are things that I have certainly struggled with myself. But they're things they noticed pretty quickly and have always been able to course correct on pretty quickly, pretty quickly. So a few things. First of all, be aware of the fact that planning can trigger some major shoulds. Right. So we talk a lot about, like not operating based on what you think you should do. shutting yourself as some people call it can shut you right down. If you're starting to think it's January, like I'm recording this in January, you're probably gonna hear it in February. But if you're already starting to think like, what should I be doing this year? And how can I like systematically kind of execute on every single thing that I should be doing? Then it's going to be probably probably thinking about it in that way is not going to actually guide you to create the best plan. So just be aware of that. If you have a history of burnout, then chances are you have tried this approach before. And it probably may or maybe it has led you to places that you don't want to go again, like you don't want to repeat that you don't want to run your business that way anymore. And because you remember that, then when you start thinking about things this way, it can kind of bring up that fear and dread and sometimes even panic. And I hear this a lot from people who avoid planning or who do plan. But they go into the plan really like not consciously aware of what they're doing. And they're kind of shutting themselves down as they create it because it's the only way to get through planning without all of that dread coming up. So they're sort of like not even fully present to what they're doing. And then that's when people create plans that they don't, that they can't really execute on or honestly that somewhere deep down. They have no intentions of even executing on they're creating a plan just to create a plan. So if you start your planning process in a state of kind of excitement, and like this is going to be great. I'm going to be able to do all this stuff because I have a great plan and then you slip into dread. Just know that like first of all, you're not alone. But also this is probably a pet outturn that has like some deep roots that maybe goes into, I don't know, like, the way that you grew up your experiences and in jobs that you had before your experiences burning out before or being, you know, people make themselves actually sick with the amount of overworking that they can do. So just be gentle with yourself and just know like, you're not alone in that. And the fact that so many people experience that, to me, says we need to do some major shifting in the way that we're thinking about the way that we approach moving toward big goals, because this is an actual problem. And yet, we're continuing to pretend that we shouldn't be experiencing that. And we should be creating these elaborate plans and then following the plans perfectly, and then we would have everything that we wanted. And yet everyone that I'm talking to is experiencing some amount of this in there. And if we could be real about this and honest about this, we could probably plan a lot better. And we could start to shift this way that we approach this. Now, the second thing I want to say on this is shoulds are not strategies, right? A strategy is when you have an end goal in mind a specific thing that a specific result that you want to work toward, and then you create a deliberate action plan to move yourself there. Real strategy requires creativity, it requires you to really fully be present to and put creative energy into thinking about what would you do to move toward that outcome? What do you think? What do you want to try? What do you want to experiment with being in a state of this is what I should do, because somebody said, This is what I'm supposed to do. It's, it's actually the opposite of being creative. And it generally is not tied to an actual outcome. And it's not deliberate on your part, which means it's not strategic. So I'm saying this to give you permission to let go of the need to play out in a particular way, or the need to have specific things in your plan, or the need to follow a very specific plan that is based on all the things that you think you quote, unquote, should do. And the third thing to look out for in planning, especially if you're somebody who finds planning, anxiety inducing, or who has some patterns around planning, where you create elaborate plans, but then you can't follow through on them is judgments about your own ability to quote unquote, stick to the plan. This is the thing, every single person works differently. For some people, they create a plan and they stick to it for other people, they create a plan and they don't do a single thing on the list. And other people fall a number of different places in between. Right, and there's no right way to do things I have worked with business owners before, who have gotten incredibly far by flying by the seat of their pants, and I am not condoning flying by the seat of your pants. I think at some point, having a plan and having a strategy is very important. But what I will say is, if you are at a point where you're having trouble taking action, and you're thinking about things, but you're not doing the things, maybe the this judgment about how it should be more planned out, is actually holding you back more than it's helping you to move forward. Right. And so I say all this to say people, different people work differently, you get to know yourself, and work with yourself. The fact is that every working style has benefits and drawbacks. So be aware of them and work with them. People who are constantly generating new ideas often have a harder time sticking to the plan, but are highly creative and motivated and take action. People who stick to the plan, on the other hand might not be as flexible when it comes to making adjustments, or moving on, inspired creative ideas, but have a much easier time being consistent once they start moving. Right. So there's benefits and drawbacks to every working style. There's no right or wrong way to do it. And if you are by the way, if you're listening to this, and you're like well, I'm not really either of those people. So I guess I don't have any strengths you do. It's just that I can't go through like every single possible working style on here because it doesn't work that way. There's no I don't have archetypes for working styles. There's way too fucking much of them. There's way too many of them. There's way too many different ways that people work. But if like we're only you know, a month into the year, and if you're already getting down on yourself about how you work and how you probably won't stick to the plan. And or how the plan is not going to work or whatever, please keep listening. Because you, I would love to give you a loving kick in the ass today. Because of that way of thinking about things is like not doing you any favors at all. You might think that it's like, oh, no, you need to be hard on yourself so that you can get moving, I promise you, those judgments about your working style, those judgments and predictions about how you're either not going to stick to the plan, or you're going to stick to the plan, but it's not going to work yet again, it is only draining your creative energy and the energy that you have available to move forward toward what you want for your business. It's not helping you at all. So I really want to give you some permission to please let go of that today. Because it's just not worth it. Like who gives a fuck, honestly, about the right way to do things. That's not what you're working for yourself. Okay. So what can you do differently, to move beyond this dichotomy of strategic planning or creative inspiration? And kind of tap into actual creative strategic planning? Energy? And I am speaking to this, there's either the strategic plan or this creative inspiration dichotomy. Because first of all, we're all about transcending these dichotomies, right? But I hear a lot of people say like, how do I create a plan, a strategic plan and follow the plan without losing that, because that's not really the way that I want to work, people get scared and anxious about creating a plan. Because what if it means that it's going to suck the love and joy and fun out of the way that they've been approaching their business? What if it means they're going to box themselves into a corner and not be able to act on these things that they really like love to do, but also are afraid to just follow that inspiration, because it's not strategic? Right. So we're going to talk about some things that you can do from somebody who is a really good planner that I think will help you move beyond that. Okay, so I have like some actual tangible tips for you, in creating plans, and moving beyond the anxiety of a plan. So the first thing is full permission to simply use planning just to get into action. Sometimes it is too overwhelming to get moving with something without first creating a plan. And it is 100%. Okay to create a plan, simply to motivate yourself to move. And then change the plan once you're in motion. And in fact, I would highly recommend that you change the plan once you're in motion, because if you are moving, and you are gaining information, and you're learning things, and you're realizing, Oh, this needs to be adjusted that needs to be adjusted, and you're not making those adjustments, just because you have this judgment about yourself that you should follow the plan to a tee, you, my friend, are literally talking yourself out of being a strategic business owner. Like do you do you see that right? As you move, you're going to gain information about what needs to be adjusted, what elements of the plan need to be changed, you need to you can't pretend you don't see those. Just because it lines with these outdated narratives and judgments that you have about yourself, but how about how you work. So except that your first plan might be simply there to get you into action. And it almost definitely is not going to be the best plan or the final plan. If you are planning something that you've never done before, if you have a big goal for this year, that you've never achieved before I have news for you, you don't know what you're doing. I remember telling my coach one time, like I just feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. And she was like yeah, that's because you don't and every time I think about that, I laugh because when she said it, I was like holy shit. Wow, that was blunt, but it's true. And there's some amount of normalizing that that we need to do. You don't know what you're doing yet. So you learn by doing. So move and expect the plan to change. Expect that as you move, you're going to learn things that are going to allow you to create a better plan for the future. This is why when I talk about the five stages that I guide my clients through from rule follower to game changer, right there's seeking savior, which is you're trying to do everything the right way thinking that it's going to like fix everything for you fall out, which is when you realize that's not going to work and then you really lean into that kind of like Fuckit energy and you move into agency, which is where that that trust starts to shift to yourself and you start really experimenting with and being with your own ideas and being creative in the way that you're approaching your business. And then you can move into conscious power. And the reason that I say that conscious power is the first time that you can be truly strategic is because it's not until you move through agency that you have actually tested your own ideas. You need that information before you can create a solid strategic plan. So if you're expecting yourself to have the perfect plan now, and you're making yourself wrong for the fact that it's not working, hello, that's not the way that it works. So be open to the unknowns and adjust as needed, something that I teach in training camp, and this is something that we are going to get into on February 15. Which by the way, is the day before I leave to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, I am going to be the energy that day is going to be out of control, maybe you'll see my costume that I've been working on, maybe that's a bonus for you if you come live. But something that I teach in that program is the difference between being committed and hustling. And the short version is that commitment is about having a clear vision for where you want to go and taking one action at a time in that direction. And understanding that you can not predict how everything's going to unfold and what all of the steps are going to be to get you to where you're going. When you are committed, you are constantly learning and from there, your next best step reveals itself. So if you are too rigid in the plan, you will close yourself off to new information that could have pointed you in a better direction. And that's when you're really susceptible to clicking into hustle mode, and just trying to get to the end of the list every day and it burns you out and it does not work well. So be open to the unknown, adjust as needed. And keep in mind, we want to be committed to the vision and to the goal, not just hustling, and then hoping that that's going to be enough. Another tip for you plan for planning. So let's say that you don't know like what you want, you know, you want to put out a new offer this year, but you don't know what it is yet. You don't have all of the steps already outlined for what that is going to require. You don't have to have all the specifics. In order to still have a solid plan for it. One of my favorite solutions is to plan for future planning where I will put on my calendar. So like let's say I want to put something out in June, then I might put on my calendar, like plan for this new offer in the beginning of April. And then when that comes up in my list, I'm like, Oh, right. Okay, now's a good time that I'm gonna want to do this in a couple of months. So now's a good time to actually start thinking about how I'm gonna put all of this out there. It's a really good way to hold space for future planning. And assure yourself that you have your bases covered without forcing yourself to rush into any decisions prematurely, because forcing yourself to rush into having a completed plan is almost definitely not going to be a plan that you're actually going to follow. Or it's going to lead you to a plan that you're not actually going to follow because it was based just based on on like, I need to have a plan, not based on like, Okay, I'm channeling my creative energy into how I'm going to make this work and figuring this thing out. Let's sit down and create a plan, right? So hold space on your calendar for future planning. If you're like, Okay, I want to do that thing. But I don't know everything that's going to be included in that yet. So like how do I plan for it? Get clear with yourself about about how much time you're going to need and go to the beginning of that timeframe and put a placeholder in your calendar for okay, this is when we're starting planning this thing. Get curious about your self judgments. So what are the stories that you're telling yourself about your own working style, your ability to plan or how likely you are to stick to the plan because whatever those judgments are, it is far more productive to get curious about where they came from, than it is to start indulging those judgments because those judgments are going to lead you to the same behavior as before, which leads to the same outcomes as before. Getting into a loop about how you can change or fix yourself is a huge drain on that creative energy. And remember that is required for actual strategic planning. So instead of trying to change that about yourself, instead of indulging these judgments about yourself, I really want you to explore if you can preserve your creative energy by simply observing and getting curious about those judgments. And that's going to lead you to being able to shift those so that it's easier for you to channel that creativity into actual strategic planning moving forward. And this is tied to like, finding, you know, kind of getting in the zone and zone of genius stuff. And we're going to talk about that a little bit on February 15, as well. So, yeah, so get curious about self judgment. When you sit down to create a plan, if you're finding yourself like heading into a shame, spiral. Notice it, you don't even need to make yourself wrong for the fact that you're feeling shame ashamed. You don't need to make yourself feel wrong, you don't need to make yourself wrong for feeling emotional. But what you do need to do is notice it and notice that it is only going to lead you away from creating a solid strategic plan, not toward it. And so whatever you need to do to get curious about that, rather than indulgent. And two more things for you, before I get into some of the responses and questions that I got. Don't stifle your superpowers, like I said, at the top of this episode, every working style has its benefits and its drawbacks for everything that you are judging yourself for, there is something else that you do brilliantly that got you this far. So don't stifle your creative impulses, to fit yourself into that mold of like what a quote unquote strategic CEO would do. Instead, use planning to establish a direction for yourself and to get into motion and then use that those superpowers, those creative kind of impulses, to strengthen and adjust things as you go. And we'll talk a bit more about what that can look like when you're working with a team. Because of course, when you're working with a team, you want to be mindful of how much you're changing the plan. But we'll talk about that a bit more in response to one of the questions that I got. And my final thing that I want to touch on is stretching yourself to reform your relationship with planning. So a saying that I love and I have no idea where I heard it. But I know that it's not mine is Don't you can't think your way into a new way of acting, you have to act your way into a new way of thinking. So the point is, the best way to shift your mindset is to take action, if you tend to be super rigid and hard on yourself, how can you be more gentle, when you approach your planning less time, if you tend to just go with the flow, challenge yourself to make some commitments and follow through on them, challenge yourself to move through the boring parts of the plan that you know you, you know you need to do, you don't really want to but this is always where you fall off. And now you're going to challenge yourself to stick to it just a bit. So, you know, I'm I want you to work with yourself, not against yourself and know that your working style has significant benefits and not to not make yourself wrong for that. But also there are every working style has some drawbacks as well. And you can stretch yourself to reform the way that you approach planning to mitigate some of those drawbacks and to become a business owner who creates more strategic plans, who is more aware of when the plan needs to change, and who is a bit better at following through on the things that are important to you. So now I want to get into some of the questions and responses that I got when I brought this up to followers before I recorded this episode. So one person said that their biggest struggle with planning well, they said first of all, there's too much to even get into, but that a lot of it is around social media planning and topics to talk about. This is something that I would highly recommend you find the aligned business portal for it is currently in a beta test, I don't plan on launching it, again, in its final version until probably April. But if you're listening to this, and you're like, I need that now. Just email me or DM me on Instagram or something and we'll figure out how to get it to you ahead of time. I have no problem letting you in. And that's current version. But here's the thing. Remember how I was talking about how the most important part of really, real strategic planning is that creativity piece, when you create the plan, you need to be creative, right? Social media content is a really good example of this. And topics that you should talk about is a good example of this because it's so easy to go into, okay, what are my content pillars and what should I be talking about? But really, you want to shift your focus away from that and how you think you should plan and toward who are the people that you want to be talking to? Who are the people that you want to connect with on social media, or through whatever platform we're talking about and what do they really actually need to hear from you and talk to them as individuals. So for some people, this might Ain't mean that you sit down. And remember how I said plan for planning. Maybe your plan for your social media is you have a block of time, maybe at the beginning of the month where it's like, okay, sit down and, and plan for what I'm going to talk about this month on social. And this is just one example, I'm gonna give you another example that might work better for you. In that case, right? You have a plan, you don't need to come up with like your whole social media strategy, like in advance, you can sit down in the beginning of the month and go, Okay, what am I selling last month? What am I promoting? Who are the right people for that? And what did they really need to hear from me today on like, an individual basis, like what would really be supportive for them? And then you can come up with like, those things that people really need to hear from you and maybe write those things down and plan from that place. But the point is, rather than going into it, like really structured like, what am I supposed to be talking about, you're going into it thinking about the individual. But another, totally, I used to find this to be a really effective social media strategy when I was first starting. And I was not yet at that conscious power phase where like, now I have a much more, I'm able to create a much more truly strategic social media plan. Before the most strategic thing that I could do was understand that when I sit down to like, come up with a bunch of ideas for content, I click out of creativity mode, I click out of, of connection mode, and I click into like homework mode, where I'm just trying to like get to the end of the task, and to the end of the lesson trying to get it right. And that is not helpful for creativity or connection. So for me, my best social media strategy was to decide how often do I want to show up on social media. And however many days a week, or however often that was going to be just setting some sort of reminder for myself, I used to do it every morning, where I would check in with myself. And I would get like really connected, we talked about this in the Alliance business portal, creating a connection ritual, where you are connecting this idea of who it is that you want to talk to, and what they really need to hear from you and connecting to your message. And just getting really clear on like, what do people need to hear for me today, that, for me, worked so much better than like content pillars and stuff, it was through those kinds of conversations, and sharing that type of content that I learned, what resonated and what what I should come back to more often, right. And so this really fits into what we were talking about before where it's like, maybe your plan is to just set time aside to do a thing. To set time aside to have that ritual, where you where you connect with your message and your your people and what they really need to hear from you rather than having like forcing yourself to have this elaborate plan ahead of time. And then get to the point where you have to actually put it out there and realize, oh, wait, but actually, this feels disconnected. And like it's not right, and like it needs to be adjusted. So I hope that that helps. Another person said that their biggest issue with planning is knowing that they will inevitably feel ashamed when they don't follow through. And I hear you and a really, I hope that I kind of addressed this already in the beginning of this episode, but my biggest thing for you is, first of all, I would recommend that if you you know didn't listen, like actively listen to the beginning of this episode where I was explaining, like, what, what strategic planning really is and how, what the difference is between commitment and hustling that you listen to that again, because my hope is that that can give that logical side of your brain something to kind of grab on to and allow you some permission to let go of the need to follow through on the plan exactly as it was written. But also getting curious about that, like, where did that come from? Because that if that is driving you away from actually being able to plan creatively and strategically. It might seem like a necessary judgment to hold yourself accountable or whatever, but it's actually just draining that energy. Another response that I got was that somebody always plans too much, or makes plans that are different from what they're doing. So it's hard to keep going. And so I'm, I hope I'm reading this right, but kind of what I'm seeing is like they're doing one thing, and then they're kind of thinking like, oh Blake should be doing all of these other things and they plan to do all those other things and then it's like too much and so they just keep kind of doing what they're doing or can't follow through. Notice that. Notice that and get curious about where that's coming And from and what I would say is it is so much more effective. From a business standpoint, to get real and honest with yourself about how much time something is going to take how much energy something is going to take what your working style is, if you can sustain that pace, and plan around that with all of that in mind, so that the plan is actually realistic. Because if you continue to do this, and you don't get curious about where that impulse is coming from, and you don't give yourself permission to slow it down and change the plan, and get honest with yourself, and actually be creative about it, you're gonna continue with this pattern. And what starts to happen if you do that is it, it further diminishes your confidence, because you've now had all of these examples of times that you didn't follow through. And so that's something for you to notice, and to give yourself permission to create less elaborate plans. Maybe for a period of time, you are giving yourself a challenge to only have like a few things on your to do list every day to weigh scale back your plans and make them really simple, and then slowly build up the consistency, being able to follow through. And then that will allow you to learn more about like what your capacity is, what actually works and to be more intentional. And the final question that I got was somebody wanted to know, how do we interact with that plan moving forward? I've received feedback that I gather everyone for a plan, and then I never bring it up again, how do you reengage with the plan, when you have a team, this is kind of what I said I was going to come back to what I was talking about changing the plan. Now this is going to change for or this is going to be different for every team. And the key to this is communication. The first thing is you need to be very clear with your team about who first of all, what is the role of the plan? And how does it work with you and your team when something needs to be changed. And know like what is the ultimate vision right of what you're moving toward. And, and that will act as a filter for like when things need to be changed. So in other words, if you start to realize, okay, this is our end goal, this is our vision and the way that things are planned right now, it's ultimately kind of misaligned with that, or there's something else that we could change to move us toward that vision, there's something that we need to be changed for changed for us to fully show up and in service of that vision. If you know what that vision or that y is, or that end goal is, and what is most important to the to your business and to your team, then it becomes much less tense when it's time to change a plan because people understand why the plan is changing. So that's the first piece is like being very clear on what those filters are for, like why a plan might change. Also understanding again, I said this already, but like the process for how you're going to change a plan and include your team in that process. What do they need from you, when you get in touch with them and say that the plan was changing? Did they maybe they just need you to acknowledge, hey, I know that we said we were going to do this. I am so I'm you know, I'm sorry that we're changing this again, here's what we need, how's that going to impact what's currently on your plate, you might need to acknowledge that you might be adding workload to somebody's plate when they don't have the capacity for it. And that's just a conversation that you need to be aware of that you need to acknowledge it and need to have a conversation with them about it so that you can be involved in helping them decide like, is something else gonna get pushed? Are you shifting priorities, if you don't acknowledge that it's impacting your team, when the plan changes, then what starts to happen is they feel like you're just adding things and adding things. And it's not okay for them to where they don't understand if they can shift other things to free up capacity, and that can create some tension. So those are two things to consider. Why would a plan change? What's the most what are the most important things? What's the vision? How do changes happen? And how can you best support your team when it is obvious that something does need to change? The other thing is get very clear on people's roles. Who is the person who is responsible for keeping everybody on the plan? Is it something that everyone is responsible for? Is everyone supposed to be operating according to the plan? Is it you as the person who's leading you created this plan? And now that's for you to follow, but you're directing everybody? Is Is there somebody else on the team who's ultimately responsible for bringing everybody back to the plan? You need to be clear on that because is what can start to happen is you everybody gets together and creates a plan. And then people forget, and you go with the momentum of what you've always done. And you have these meetings, and you're brainstorming ideas and things change, and then people get confused. So who's responsible for it? And if it's not you, you need to give that person permission to stop you in a meeting or something and say, Hey, okay, so my role is to bring us all back to the plant. Here's what the plan said, here's what we're doing. Now, how do we want to reconcile this and just okay it with, you know, whoever's in charge, and maybe have a conversation about how best to handle that shift so that everybody's on the same page. Because what you can't do is you can't tell everybody, you're all responsible for following this plan, but then you start giving direction that goes against that, and then nobody has the permission to kind of check you on that. So those are a few things that you can do. If you have a team and you want to keep coming back to planning. Ultimately, here's what I want to tell you. First of all, there is no right or wrong way to create a plan, there is the way that works for you to get you into motion to preserve your creativity. And to to move you deliberately toward the goals that you have for your business, however you want to do that is fine. But what I can tell you for sure is making adjustments along the way is going to be an essential part of the process. And you can even plan for making adjustments if it makes you feel better. Maybe Friday is the day I do that, actually on Fridays, one of the things on my list is look at the following week and make sure that things actually still make sense and see if anything needs to shift. But ultimately, the other thing is that if you're feeling like you're listening to this, and you're like, oh my gosh, am I doing something wrong, because I didn't even do any like yearly planning. It's there's no right time to be planning, calendar years are completely fucking arbitrary. It does not mean anything that it is the beginning of the year, it really doesn't. Maybe you're the kind of person who plans for a month at a time, maybe you plan for a quarter at a time, maybe you plan for a year at a time, maybe wanted to plan for a year at a time, but you still haven't created one. It's fine, just start now, nothing is lost. It's not too late. Maybe you're listening to this. And you've already created a really elaborate plan and you're getting glimpses of this is not sustainable. And I can't follow through on this. I want to invite you to sit down and get honest with yourself about what needs to change and I really want you to change it with no guilt, no shame. And get curious if that guilt or shame is coming up because it is only going to drain your creativity from future strategic planning and from adjusting the plans that you have created to be actually usable, and helpful. I hope that this was helpful for you. Be on the lookout for other emails coming to your inbox with future topics that you can ask questions about can also go to Brook dash monahan.com/podcast and submit your ideas for whole episodes if you want to. And I would again love to see you on February 15 live at my live training five mindset shifts to unleash sustainable business growth you can go to bit.li/tyt LIVE. Transcend your dichotomy is a production of passion and process collaborative LLC. The show is produced by me Brooke Monaghan with production and marketing support from Julia pink crunch. Rajani creates blog posts from some of our episodes, which you can find on the episode page at Brooke dash monaghan.com/podcast along with a transcript of today's episode and any other resources I shared today. If you're ready to put this work into action, head to Brooke dash monahan.com To learn more about transcend your dichotomy training camp and coaching with me. Love you. I'll see you next week.