How to Use Year-End Downtime for 2026 Strategic Planning

The last two weeks of the year are a golden opportunity for you to think like a CEO and do some business planning.

Client work is slowing down. Every meeting invite says, “Let’s circle back after the holidays.” For small businesses, there’s finally space to get around to the strategic planning that’s been put off all year.

While you should absolutely use some of your downtime to rest, you can also get a lot of work done. December can be the most productive time to plan your business strategy for next year.

With customer activity going quiet, your brain’s not cluttered with a long to-do list, so it’s easier to focus. And if you celebrate Christmas, the endorphins of the season help you think clearly and see the big picture.

This year, when your holiday rush is over, use your December downtime to build a clear, flexible plan to succeed in the new year.

How to Use December Downtime for Strategic Planning

Here’s what you can do on a quiet December day to position your business to thrive in the new year: review what worked this year (and what didn’t); write down your goals; evaluate market predictions; and make a 90-day plan.

(In the spirit of the season, you can do it while sipping some cocoa. Extra marshmallows.)

1. Review Your 2025 Business Plan to See What Worked (and Didn’t)

First things first. You can’t plan where you’re going until you figure out where you are.

Take a look back at where your business was last January. For some of us, it’s exciting to look at that and see how far we made it.

For some others, that might be painful. 2025 was a rough ride, and there are a lot of people who were flying high in Q1 that are barely making it in Q4.

The important thing is, you’ve made it this far and you’re still standing. Take a moment of gratitude to celebrate that.

Year-end planning isn’t about beating yourself up over what went wrong. It is about looking for issues we might have prevented if we’d approached them differently.

Also, look at the business ideas you had for this year that you didn’t execute. Or that you didn’t execute as fully as you expected.

Do you still feel excited about that idea? Is it something you want to try again?

For example, at the end of last year, I launched a community. I had big bodacious goals for it. So big, in fact, that I didn’t get to them all.

The community never picked up traction and I retired it this year. Looking back on it, I’ve decided not to bring it back in 2026.

Even though I never executed all my plans for it, there are other priorities where I feel more excited about spending my time and my energy.

This year-end review is also the perfect time to audit your systems and processes. A strategic plan only works if your business operates in a way that supports it.

If “what didn’t work” includes things like bottlenecks or miscommunication, it’s time to evaluate whether your business is set up for success, or if it needs a systems upgrade.

⚠️ Mistake to avoid: Copy-pasting last year’s business strategy into next year. You, your business, your customers, and your industry are not in the same place as they were 12 months ago. You need a fresh plan, even if it carries over some of the same parts.

2. Write Down Your Business and Personal Goals for the New Year

What do you want for your business? At the end of 2026, where do you want to be?

This is important: write it down. Goals that live just in your head are wishes. Write it down and bring it into the physical world.

You should have at least two goals: a financial goal and a freedom goal.

Financial goal: What do you want your finances to look like by the end of next year? Think about

• Revenue goals

• Profit goals

• Debt management

Then there’s your freedom goal. You don’t own your own business so you can work 24/7. What do you want your life to look like at the end of next year?

Maybe it’s a shorter work week. Maybe it’s more family time. Maybe it’s travel. What are the personal goals you want your business to make possible?

⚠️ Mistake to avoid: Vague, pie-in-the-sky goals. These aren’t just things you wish would happen; they’re things you’re going to make happen. Follow the SMART framework and set goals that are:

• Specific: A number, not a wish.

• Measurable: It has a metric you can track.

• Achievable: Stretch, but keep it realistic.

• Relevant: Connected to your business.

• Time-bound: On a clear deadline.

3. Look at Trends and Predictions for Your Industry in 2026

Your business doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The market decides what paths are available to you to reach your goals.

Do some research on trends and predictions in your industry. Look for industry forecasts from organizations like the SBA and NFIB; consumer sentiment surveys; cost projections for your industry; and industry benchmark surveys.

Use AI tools to gather and analyze relevant data; just be sure you ask your tool to cite its sources and double check them to make sure it’s not hallucinating.

For example, as a business strategist, I know the trending sentiment among the small business owners I help is a feeling of depletion. They feel like they’ve been kicked around this year, so next year, they’ll probably be very cautious.

My plan for operating in that environment is to build a strategy to earn trust. That’s going to involve a lot of communication and a lot of networking.

⚠️ Mistake to avoid: Focusing on what you want and ignoring what’s going on in the world around you. The market impacts what you can and can’t do. Observe the environment and plan how to work within it.

4. Make a Strategic Plan to Reach Your Goals

Once you have your goals and you have an understanding of the environment, you can figure out how you’ll reach those goals.

Maybe you’ve been selling courses, but the market predictions indicate your audience won’t spend much on courses next year. How will you pivot to reach your goal?

Will you do live workshops? Increase one-on-one consulting?

A strategic plan breaks your big goal down into smaller milestones (usually quarterly goals).

Then it outlines the actions you plan to take each quarter, how you’ll know if you’re succeeding, and what you might do if the market shifts.

⚠️ Mistake to avoid: Making detailed plans too far in advance and refusing to change them when the market shifts. The market almost always shifts, and these days it happens a lot. Be prepared to roll with it.

2026 Business Planning Checklist

1. Compare your 2025 plan with what actually happened this year. Identify wins, losses, and things you learned.

2. Set clear financial and freedom goals for 2026. Write them down.

3. Research market trends and predictions in your industry. This is the environment you’ll be working in, which impacts the actions available to you as you go after your goals.

4. Build a 90-day action plan to move you closer to your annual goals. 

5. Stay flexible and plan for pivots.

Plan to Pivot Your Business Strategy

If there is just one lesson every business owner can take from 2025, it’s that markets are unpredictable. This year was a roller coaster, and I don’t see any reason to expect next year to be a smooth ride.

As important as it is to plan, it’s also important to stay flexible. The worst thing you can do is dig in your heels and refuse to shift because “this is my plan and I’m sticking to it.”

Everything in life right now is so freaking unpredictable. So have a big picture plan for the year, but limit your detailed plan to one quarter at a time.

Expect that at some point, you may have to shift or pivot what you’re doing to end up where you want to be.

You don’t have to do all this alone. Sometimes clarity is as close as a single call with someone who can give you some guidance and perspective.

If you want help, a Roadmap delivers a clear operations report and a 90-day plan tailored to your goals. Reach out and I’ll help you figure out what to do first, what to stop doing, and how to make real progress in Q1.