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We’re quickly approaching the end of the year, which means it’s already time to look ahead. Right now, tons of coaches are thinking to themselves, “What does next year have in store for me?”

I think the better question to ask is “What do you have in store for next year?”

See the difference? The first is reactive while the second is proactive, and I think it’s safe to assume which one you’d rather be.

Right now, I want to show you how to crush this upcoming year by preloading your calendar. First, though, here’s why it’s so important:

The 50/50 Year?

If you don’t preload your calendar and plan out next year, you’ll go through yet another year feeling out of control. It’s like climbing a wobbly ladder. There’s uncertainty about your future and your present, and when you’re in that reactive state, you have no idea if your coaching business will work out the way you want.

Second, without a preloaded calendar, you’ll spend a ton of time chasing bright, shiny objects. You might loosely follow a plan, but soon you’ll get distracted and completely derailed. As Confucius said, “The man who chases two rabbits catches neither.”

Finally, if you don’t preload your calendar, you might feel hopeful about next year… but being hopeful and being certain are two very different things. The end result is that you approach next year under-confident and doubtful —feeling like it’s a 50/50 toss up that could go either way.

The best way of starting any new year is with certainty — certainty that you’re following the right plan, carrying it out the right way, and getting the results you were aiming for.

When we get this right, instead of being out of control, you’ll be in the driver’s seat. Instead of chasing shiny objects, you’ll be on a pathway to profit. And instead of just hoping next year will be better, you’ll be certain of it because you’ll know exactly what you’re going to do.

Let’s dive into three keys for preloading your calendar so you can crush this next year.

1. Cashflow Follows Calendar

In the 1980s, computer scientist Alan Kay said that the best way to predict the future is to invent it. In other words, we’re not going to wait for next year to happen to us. We’re going to decide how we want it to happen right now.

To invent our own future, we can’t just set goals.

If you’re thinking, “Hang on! Goal-setting is essential to success,” just bear with me. Sure, goals are really important, and most coaches are fantastic at setting goals. But they’re pretty lousy at making plans.

Yes, we’ll set goals, but we also have to create real plans that fit inside our calendar. That means you need to:

1. Decide what you really want
2. Reflect that in your calendar

If you want your cashflow to improve, we need to change your calendar to fit it and decide the ideal year, ideal quarter, ideal month, and ideal week ahead of time. Then we’ll follow the gameplan and the cash will follow.

2. Think Once

When we plan out our year, we’re going to think hard once. Before the year begins, we’ll decide where we want to be and use that to fill up our calendar. We won’t chop and change as we go along. We’re going to create our plan, one time, and stick to it.

It’s a lot like laying train tracks. Once a train is moving down the tracks, it can’t just turn left or right whenever it feels like it. It has to follow the tracks all the way to the destination. Right now, you’re mapping out the tracks. Next year, you’ll be conducting the train, following the tracks, all the way to where you want to be.

Is laying the tracks easy?

No, of course not. But the hardest, slowest, and most stressful part of any new endeavor is in making the decisions. Next year, if your train tracks aren’t laid out ahead of you, you have to go back to square one and rethink everything you do every time a problem or opportunity arises.

Instead of doing that, we want to make it really simple by doing our decision-making and thinking once. That frees us up to focus on the doing, which is incredibly liberating.

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3. Milestone the Moneymaking

Finally, we’re going to use these first two principles to fill in next year’s calendar.

When you think about planning the new year, there are three different types of “ingredients” that will go into the calendar, just like in Steven Covey’s First Things First. We’re going to fill up our calendar with big rocks, pebbles, and sand (and we’ll do it in that exact order).

First, we have our big rocks. These are the things that make us money. The big rocks are conversion events like webinars, live events, and slots for one-on-one sales appointments. We’ll add these in first. That way, no matter what happens, we’ll be sure to hit the goals we set for ourselves.

Then, we’ll add the pebbles. These are the things that support our big rocks, both personally and professionally. On the personal side, our pebbles include holidays and vacation with family and friends and time off to enjoy life and do what we love. Don’t overlook these!

On the professional side, there are pebbles that deliver our coaching program. These are things that ensure we’re delivering on the promises we make at conversion events. They include coaching webinars, live events (intensives), mastermind groups, or whatever you promised your clients.

Finally, we’ll add the sand — all the behind-the-scenes actions that support our big rocks and pebbles. On the professional side, we have things like learning & development, planning days, and time for team training. On the personal side, we have things like family events, hobbies, friend events, and personal care.

Preload Your Calendar

So, when it comes to planning out your year, there are three big principles.

1. Understand that your cashflow follows your calendar. You’ll start by deciding what you want, then build a calendar that gets you there.
2. Think once so you don’t have to think again and again and again. Plan it out ahead of time, then just follow the plan.
3. Milestone the moneymaking by adding big rocks, then pebbles, then sand.

When that happens, your calendar is preloaded. You’re full of confidence, crystal clear about what needs to happen, and you can focus on doing rather than rethinking and replanning to make sure you meet your goals.

P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you grow your coaching business:

1. Grab a free copy of my book

It’s the roadmap to attracting prospects, signing clients, and scaling your coaching business. — Click Here

2. Join the Coach Dojo and connect with coaches who are scaling too

It’s our new Facebook community where smart coaches learn to get more income, impact, and independence. — Click Here

3. Join our Implementation Program and be a Case Study

I’m putting together a new coaching case study group at Black Belt this month… stay tuned for details. If you’d like to work with me on your client-getting and scale plans… just send me a message with the words “Case Study”. — Click Here

4. Work with me and my team privately

If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take you from 6 to 7 figures… just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! — Click Here

Learn more here.