January 2026 Planning Tips and Resources
Being Willing to Feel the Guilt of Getting What You Want
I’ve been using Toku McCree’s new Coaches Tarot deck to help with my morning journaling. (Toku’s a member of our community and sent me a review copy; go here for more information and to sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter goes live.)
A recent card pull was “Guilty Goodness.” The question it posed was:
Are you willing to feel the guilt of getting what you want?
You might be saying to yourself, “I don’t have any guilt around that.” And yet, when we look around at what’s going on in the world, when we look at all the different challenges, all the different needs, it can be difficult to prioritize yourself.
So much about the Start Finishing work and what we do at PF is a call for you to say, “My work matters. I matter, and I’m making space for myself.” Sometimes we don’t make that space for ourselves because we get what we want and then we feel some way about that — often guilty.
As you’re thinking about 2026, I want you to really play with the idea that you might get exactly what you want. How are you going to deal with the feelings that come up with that?
If this question really resonates about a certain project, a certain goal, a certain aspect of your life — beginning or ending a relationship, getting a promotion, making a move, starting a business (or ending one), having a child — ask yourself: are you willing to sit with the guilt or other feelings that might come from getting exactly what you want?
It’s better to name those feelings now than to get 80% through the process, realize stuff is coming up, and stall out. Do the flail flip-flop. Get buried in your head trash. Just because you’re close to the exact thing that you’ve been working your tail off for, but hadn’t thought about what might shift.
We can also invert that and ask: what have you achieved or accrued or accomplished in 2025 that you might be under-grateful for, or under-appreciating, because you feel guilt about having it? Because other things are going on in the world that make you think that maybe you don’t deserve it, or maybe somebody else needs it more than you do.
If it’s something in the past, the gift has already been paid for, y’all. It’s just whether you accept it or not.
If it’s something in the future: if you’re going to be paying for it (and you will be), why the hell can’t you enjoy, appreciate, and really revel in it?
~Charlie
PS: I pulled this card the morning of our Annual Reflection Workshop and shared it during the closing because it felt like an essential question to sit with as we move into 2026. The full workshop replay is available now to paid subscribers.
Resources for the Turning of the Year
Reviewing and Letting Go of 2025
Envisioning 2026
Free subscribers: now might also be a great time for you to give our paid subscription a try. $10 a month will get you all these resources, our two monthly calls, the full digital suite of Momentum Planners, and more. Cancel anytime.
Join Us for Our January Events
Mark your calendars for our January events, open to our paid subscribers:
Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, January 7, 2026, at 11:00 am PST
January’s Focus: Aligning Your Team Around Shared VisionThe holidays scatter focus. People return with different energy levels, shifted priorities, and outdated plans still lingering from last year. Before you can plan effectively or execute with clarity, your team needs to reorganize around a shared vision of where you’re going. January isn’t about diving straight into execution. It’s about bringing your team into alignment after the holiday disruption and establishing the shared understanding that makes everything else possible.
Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, January 21, 2025, at 11:00 am PST
January’s Focus: Vision as a Home for Your Energy and Intentions
January’s cultural pressure pushes us toward immediate goal-setting before we’ve clarified what we actually want. The result? Resolutions that don’t survive February because they were never connected to work that genuinely matters. This call is about creating vision before diving into planning. Vision is a home for your energy, intentions, and dreams. Get this right, and everything else — the planning, the prioritizing, the executing — becomes clearer.
January Momentum Planners
The Momentum Planners were built to keep your most important work front and center. Download the free version of our January planners to help you determine what projects you want to accomplish in the new year.
Paid subscribers can access the full suite of dated planners below. 👇 If you don’t see them, please make sure you’re logged in to your paid account.
If you don’t have a paid subscription yet, now’s a great time to upgrade.