What Could Be Different by the End of This Year?

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This is the question I’ve been thinking about lately.

Not: What do I need to accomplish before December 31?

That immediately makes me feel like I need another list.

But rather:

What could be different in my life if I became intentional about the next few months?

There’s something about that question that feels very different to me. It doesn’t make me feel like I need to hurry up and cram a bunch of goals into the final months of the year or suddenly become more productive. It actually makes me slow down and think about what I really want.

How do I want to feel when I get to the end of December? Is there something in my life I would love to have changed by then? Is there something I keep thinking about, talking about or telling myself I’m going to do that I could actually begin now?

Because if we’re not careful, I think this is the time of year when we can unconsciously start writing off the rest of the year.

Summer is coming to an end, the holidays suddenly don’t seem that far away, and January starts appearing on the horizon. And once that happens, it becomes very easy to tell ourselves that we’ll get serious then.

I’ll get back on track in January.

I’ll make that change in January.

I’ll figure out what I want next year.

I’ll finally start taking care of myself the way I know I need to in January.

We do this with so many things, and I completely understand why. January feels like a clean slate. There’s a new calendar in front of us and an entire year that hasn’t been touched yet, so it feels like the perfect time to start fresh.

But what if we didn’t wait?

There Is Still Time

As I’m writing this, there are still three and a half months left in 2026. And when you really think about it, that’s a meaningful amount of time.

You may not completely transform every part of your life by the end of December — nor do you need to — but you could absolutely begin changing something that matters to you. You could feel stronger. You could finally start the project you keep talking yourself out of. You could have a conversation that changes the direction of a relationship. You could begin exploring a career change, start writing something you’ve wanted to write, create a morning routine that makes you feel better, or simply start making more room in your life for the things that make you feel like you.

And maybe none of those things happen completely before the year is over.

That’s okay.

Because what if, instead of needing to arrive somewhere by December 31, you simply ended this year knowing that you had begun?

I think there is something incredibly powerful about that.

You Don’t Need a New Year to Create a New Beginning

Maybe part of this has been on my mind because I’ve been thinking so much about what I want my own next chapter to look and feel like. There are things I’m creating in my business, things my husband and I are thinking about for our future, and things I want for myself personally. And I certainly don’t have all of those answers figured out.

But I’m realizing more and more that I don’t have to.

I just need to keep listening to what I want, pay attention to what feels important and be willing to take the next step even when I can’t see all of the details yet.

And I think that applies to all of us.

You don’t have to know exactly where you’ll be a year from now to decide that you want something to be different.

You don’t have to have a perfectly mapped-out plan before you begin making a change.

And you definitely don’t have to wait for January 1 to give yourself permission to start.

You can decide on a random day in September that you want something more.

Not because your life is bad. Not because you aren’t grateful for what you already have. And not because you should be doing more.

Simply because you’re growing, and there may be something inside of you that is ready for what comes next.

So, What Could Be Different?

Maybe take a few minutes this week and really sit with that question.

What could be different in my life by the end of this year?

Don’t turn it into a to-do list. Don’t immediately start thinking about everything you would have to do to make it happen. And try not to dismiss something just because you don’t know how you would get there yet.

Just listen to what comes up.

Because sometimes we know what we want long before we know how to create it.

And sometimes simply admitting that we want something different is the beginning.

If You’re Ready to Explore What Comes Next

This is actually one of the reasons I’m offering a free Intro to Design Your Next Decade™ class this Thursday, September 17.

I know the idea of designing your next decade may sound much bigger than thinking about the final few months of this year, but they really begin in the same place: getting quiet enough to think about what you actually want your life to look and feel like instead of automatically continuing down the path you’re already on.

We’ll spend about 45 minutes together exploring what you want more of, what may be ready to change and what you want this next chapter of your life to become. You’ll get a clear answer to: What Do I Really Want?

So if you’ve been feeling that little nudge that says there might be something more for you — even if you can’t quite put your finger on what that is yet — I’d love to have you join me.

The free class is Thursday, September 17 at 7:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM PT, and if you can’t be there live, register anyway and I’ll send you the replay.

Reserve your seat here.