e191 3 Decisions There's Still Time For You To Make To Be Sure 2026 Is Your Year
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[00:00:00] And it's at this time of year that I'm always really thankful, grateful for all of the incredible people that I've had the pleasure of working with, collaborating with, meeting, spending time with this year. My clients, all of the incredible women that I network with, that I consider to be my inner circle.
All of you, my amazing podcast listeners who are so loyal and I'm so grateful that you tune in each week. If you are new here, maybe this is the first time you've stumbled across this little corner of the podcast world. You are so welcome. And I hope you'll enjoy this episode and want to stick around for next year with us.
So what are we talking about in this end of year session? Well, I wanna talk about the three [00:01:00] decisions that there is still time for you to make this year in the next couple of days to make sure that 2026 is everything you want it to be. Right. We are in those strange days at the moment, aren't we Really strange days between Christmas and New Year.
Some people will be listening to this episode in the new year because you are one of those people that are like, Nope, that's it. 23rd of December, everything, uh, switches off and I am not coming back to my business. I'm not coming back to my laptop until 5th of January. I'm done. I'm taking the break.
Brilliant. If you are that person, wonderful. I'm not really that person. I'm the person who sees this strange time between Christmas and New Year as such a gift when it comes to carving out a bit of time to work on my business, to work on myself, to [00:02:00] do some deep visioning work, to do some of the mindset stuff, to really spend some time thinking about what I want next year to look like.
And who I want to be in 2026. So, you know, no right or wrong answer, of course, what works for some people doesn't work for others and vice versa. So whether you are listening to this now and are thinking, yeah, I'm going to use this, you know, maybe today and tomorrow, uh, before we go into New Year. To really consider these three decisions.
Make these three decisions, because I think all three of these decisions are integral to making next year your year right, or if you're listening to this in early, Jan, doesn't matter. Perfect time. Perfect Time to just start, as you mean to go on for the year. Okay, so if you are listening to this podcast, then I know that on some level you [00:03:00] are ambitious.
I think everyone who listens to this podcast is some level of ambitious, and ambitious has become. Sort of a bit of a, I don't know, like edgy word really. It's almost like equating with greedy or something like that to be ambitious. It sort of sounds quite masculine. It sounds quite ruthless and I don't see it like that.
I think ambition is really, it's what up levels us. It's what allows us to move from comfort to discomfort, to growth, and. Some of us aren't necessarily overtly ambitious. Maybe we are not shouting about everything that we want to achieve from the rooftops, but I think almost all of us are secretly ambitious.
We all have, in our hearts a vision that we want for our life and our [00:04:00] business. And often the women who come to me are women who have a vision that if they dare to admit it. Is much bigger than feels comfortable for them. Their true vision, what they really want is really quite scary for them. Most of the people I work with, they want to build a business that matters.
They want to build a legacy level business. Don't particularly want to be playing small. They might start off making a lot of excuses for, uh, why a limited amount of of success is acceptable for them. But actually when we dig deeper, it's just a ton of limiting beliefs that are really sort of layered on top of what they really want.
So I think that, you know, the women who tend to come to me have share that they have that in common. They also have something else in common. They're pretty much done with all the [00:05:00] bullshit. So all of the sort of online gurus who are telling you to manifest your way to the top, you don't need to put in any real work.
Just, just think about it a lot and it might come true. Right? Women I work with are done with that. They've never really bought into that. And they're done with playing small. They're done with keeping themselves small to stay safe. If you haven't listened to last week's episode of the podcast, it's, it might be worth going back and having a listen to that one first, because we talk a lot there about flipping that script on staying safe versus embracing what's possible for you.
So these three decisions that you still have time to make in 2025, if you are listening to this as this podcast goes out, these are three decisions that will require you to be courageous. They are not easy decisions to make, but they are [00:06:00] three decisions that will absolutely position you to make 2026 the year that everything genuinely changes for you in your business.
Okay, let's dive into the episode. Welcome to rewild Your Business, the podcast for women doing the work, their soul intended. I'm Gill Moakes. I'm an international business coach and I'm a guide for women doing the work that matters. Rewilding your business means cutting away what doesn't belong to allow, what does to thrive.
Finding simplicity in your work, and it's about bringing the whole of who you are to the table. Whether you are building something new or finding your way back to what really matters to you. I'm so glad you're here. Okay, so decision one. The first one I wanna talk about is making a decision to uplevel your identity.
So I'm starting with the hardest one because I [00:07:00] don't believe in easing you in gently. We're going right in with the hardest one. Okay? You need to make a decision to uplevel your identity and become the woman you need to be. That can hold the vision you have for your life and for your business. Are you willing to make that decision?
So this is the first one I can guarantee. There are some of you listening are like, Gill, I am working on my mindset. I'm doing my affirmations, I'm visualizing, and that is lovely. I'm loving that. But that's not actually what I'm talking about here I am talking about the core identity work. Identity work is different from mindset work.
This is a really critical differential, okay? Because the identity work is about who you are actually being, not just what you are thinking. Big difference, and I've [00:08:00] said this before, but I think it's worth saying again. You are current business. What that looks like, what it is and what it isn't. In fact, your current life, everything it is and isn't, is an exact match for who you have been being up until now.
So if you are not getting the clients that you want to work with, it's because the woman you've been being is not the woman who works with those clients. If you are not charging what you are worth, it's because the woman that you've been being doesn't believe she's worth it. That's a toughie. I get that.
It's, that's hard to hear. Right. And I really do get it. I've definitely been there, a hundred percent been there. I'm the woman who was calling [00:09:00] herself a business coach in the beginning, but was really just a cheerleader, to be quite honest. 'cause I was afraid to really challenge my clients in the way they deserved to be challenged in case they didn't like me.
I undercharged for what I was doing because I was just uncomfortable with putting it out there that I believed my coaching, my service was worth that amount of money. And honestly, all of that really only changed when I. Finally did realize that I was operating from this sort of bit of a mistaken identity.
I was being a version of myself who was definitely playing it safe all the time, playing small. I was much more concerned with being liked than with being respected for a start, and I was about to say needed, but I [00:10:00] wanted the constant validation from. Anyone who would give it to me. And that stopped me from serving the exact right people really, really well, because I would work with anyone who was willing to pay me.
So the business that that version of me built, it was, I mean, it was fine. It was fine. Right? It had some really successful months. It had some less successful months, but I think from the outside, most people would say that was a pretty successful business. But it wasn't extraordinary. It wasn't what I would call a legacy business.
It wasn't particularly fulfilling. It wasn't the business I have now. I fricking love. I am so different now to the woman who started this business. I'm so different. I believe in myself [00:11:00] so much more. I have so much more confidence. That didn't happen by accident. It happened because I made a decision to become that woman.
The woman that I am now, I'm still not the finished article either. I know that. I know that about myself. I'll be 58 in 2026. I'm still not the finished article of the woman that I need to become to hold the vision I have. So this is ongoing work. This is continuously ongoing. But here's the thing. I make the decision every year to step into the identity.
That is my next level, and that's what I want for you. So this isn't about affirmations, it's not about mindset. It's not about vision boards and all of that. This is about deciding who you need to become and then doing the really uncomfortable and unglamorous work of actually being that person before you feel ready, before you feel you [00:12:00] are her.
It's actually choosing the identity, it's choosing to embody. Her identity before you have the evidence that you can put it off, even when imposter syndrome is screaming in your ear. It's knowing that inside you is this genuine version of yourself, where you are that person. So one thing that's really important to be clear about here is that this is not about pretending to be someone you are not.
It's making a decision to step into the identity of the woman. You know, you are capable of becoming the version of you that is already inside you, waiting to be allowed to come out. So here's your first decision. Who do you need to become to hold the vision that you have for [00:13:00] 2026? Not like who do you hope to be or who would you like to be if it wasn't too scary or if it wasn't for this particular external condition?
Right? Who do you need to become? Grab the journal and write her down. Describe her in absolute intimate detail. How does she show up? What does she say yes to? What does she say no to? How does she make her decisions? And probably the most important part, what does she believe to be true about herself? And none of that is going to make any difference whatsoever.
You can journal to the cows, can home about it, and I want you to journal thoroughly about it. But if you don't, couple that with this next step, which is to start being her today. Right now, not in January. If you're doing this on on the day this podcast is today, you are making a decision [00:14:00] today, and even if it feels a bit like you are.
Dressing up, you, you know, playing, dressing up. Did you used to do that as a kid? I used to love doing that. Ooh, fun fact. One of my earliest childhood memories is starting at primary school and there were three silk petticoats in the dressing up box, and I used to insist on wearing the pink silk petticoat over my head as if I was a nun.
That's my favorite thing to do in, uh, break time. Yeah. Loved a bit of dress up. So even if this feels to you like you are playing dress up, you are acting as someone else, right? I want you to know that that's okay, because that is what growth feels like. That is what allowing that woman who is already you.
She's just the version of you that's stuck inside. It's what it feels like to allow her to start having a voice, to allow her to start being seen. So if this feels [00:15:00] super comfortable, you are not growing. You're just doing what you've always done. And this decision calls for you to do something differently, to be someone different.
So that's the first decision. The second decision that I want you to make. Is to say no to misalignment. You need to be saying no to anything that's misaligned with either your values or your vision and literally, I mean, anything that is misaligned. So whether that is the clients who literally suck your soul, but pay the bills, they have to be a no in 2026.
Maybe it's like the networking groups that feel like you are obliged to go, but leave you just feeling like, Ugh, God, that was such a waste of my time. There a no. The marketing strategies that someone else has told you you should do, but they make you feel [00:16:00] like a bloody fraud. They're a no podcast guest Appearances that you know aren't right for you.
But you still feel like you should say yes anyway? No, never. No. Anything that is misaligned, not just in work either. You know the friends that are consistently taking from you, but never give, they are a no family obligations that you inherited, all the things you never actually chose for yourself. There are no.
I know that whenever I say something like this, I get a lot of people will come at me and say, but Gill, that's all well and good for you, but I need the income. I can't just turn away clients. And I'm not suggesting for one moment that you blow up your entire business. Right? I am not that reckless. I'm a risk taker, but I'm not reckless.
But I am suggesting that you need to start creating an exit [00:17:00] strategy from everything that's draining your energy, everything that's diluting your focus on your vision. Because here's the thing, every single yes to something that's misaligned. Is a no to something that could be absolutely transformative for you.
So every hour you spend working with a client who doesn't respect your boundaries is an hour that you are not spending. Finding the right clients, creating the offer that is gonna attract those dream clients, working on your marketing ecosystem that is going to uplevel the kind of clients that you are, are attracted to working with you.
Right. You know, every event you attend out of obligation is an event you are missing that could be introducing you to those next higher level, more aligned clients. So misalignment. You know what? It's actually [00:18:00] really expensive too. Not just financially, although it is definitely expensive, it will cost you if you are saying yes to things that should be nos for you.
It will be costing you money in the long run. But it's also massively expensive, energetically and emotionally. And I don't think I need to tell you that. I think we all know how it feels to work with misaligned clients, and we all know how it feels to say yes to things out of obligation and then.
Allowing our hearts to sink when we see how bloody crowded our calendar is for that week. Maybe you're gonna listen into an episode of Reword Your Business and you're gonna be like, oh my God, I'd love to give that marketing experiment a go. Oh, hang on. I can't, 'cause I have literally no space in my working week to fit in anything.
'cause I've said yes to every single request from me. Right. And the women who are really here to [00:19:00] show up and build a legacy kind of business, those women can't afford that expense of time and energy and finance. Right. I've done this time and time again, and this is such an integral part of Rewilding your business, by the way.
I've had to time and time again say no to things that were once a yes. So that I can take my business to the next level. And sometimes it's bloody painful. Sometimes it feels awkward sometimes we have to have hard conversations. It takes courage, takes courage to walk away from something that perhaps on the face of it looks like it's working, but actually inside, you know, it's depleting you.
And it is taking up the space of something that would be a much more full-bodied. Yes. You know, at the end of the day, thinking about decision number one, you cannot become the woman who holds the big [00:20:00] vision. If you are spending all your time on the work that keeps you playing small. So these go hand in hand.
I dunno if I read this as a quote or if I said it, I'm gonna assume it was a quote 'cause it's quite clever so I probably didn't make it on myself. I might have done, dunno, I come out with the odd little, uh, nugget of a quote, but basically you. Can't create space for the extraordinary when your calendar is packed with the ordinary.
Don't you just love that? I don't know if that was me or not though. Honestly, I like it though. I'm gonna use it more often. You can't create space for the extraordinary when your calendar is packed with the ordinary. So here's your second decision. What do you need to say no to in 2026? And I genuinely want you to be ruthless about this.
Make a list of everything in your business and your life right now. If you were listening in a few [00:21:00] weeks ago, we did this exercise. Make a list of everything in your business and your life. Go through the list and ask yourself, is this aligned with my values? Is this moving me towards my vision and is this something the woman I decided to become would still be doing?
If the answer to any of those questions is no, start planning that exit. You don't have to burn it all down tomorrow. Okay. Because that's always the thing, isn't it? We go to this like our, our nervous system becomes unregulated. 'cause we're like, oh God, that feels so terrifying. It's okay. Calm, breathe. You don't have to burn it all down tomorrow.
But you do have to start extricating yourself. Because 2026 is not the year for you to keep doing the things that aren't working just because they're familiar. It's actually the year to get really brave about your [00:22:00] boundaries and really protective about your energy. Okay? So third one, decision number three is possibly the one that might make you the most uncomfortable.
I don't know. But decision number three is this. You need to decide to invest in yourself. You need to choose yourself for the success you want, and back yourself by investing in your personal and professional development. Here's the, I'm not talking about like 20 quid course that you're never gonna finish.
It's gonna sit gathering that digital dust. No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about making a brave feeling. Investment in yourself. One that probably is gonna make you feel really nervous when you think about it, because here's what I've learned in however long I've now been in [00:23:00] business, what is it?
I don't know, 10 years. Here's what I've learned in the last 10 years. Every single time that I have upleveled my business, it is because I made a brave decision to take a risk and invest in myself. Every single time without exception. When I was a virtual assistant and I was dreaming of becoming a coach, I invested in a coaching certification when I couldn't really afford it.
When I was an early stage coach trying to build my business, I invested in a business coach that stretched my budget, almost a breaking point, to be fair, and I would not encourage anyone doing that. Every time I have invested in myself, it felt like it was too much of a stretch. It felt too expensive. It felt too risky.
It felt like I was taking it too far, almost. And every time I feel like I had this voice in my head, [00:24:00] then like, who do you think you are? You are not the person who's ready for this. You can't afford this. What are you doing? What if it doesn't work? And every single time, I let my intuition speak more loudly than my fear every time, because that's what the woman that I needed to become would do.
She wouldn't wait until she felt ready. She wouldn't wait until she could afford it. She would decide. That she's worth the investment and find a way to make it work. And I think this is where most people get stuck. They will say, I will invest in myself when I'm making more money, or I'll hire that coach when I'm more established.
It's chicken and egg. It's round the wrong way. You don't get established first and then invest in yourself. You invest in yourself first, and that's what gets you established. That investment [00:25:00] forces you to show up differently. It signals to you and to the universe if you believe in that kind of thing.
You know, it signals that you are serious about this, that you are not prepared to accept less. So I think investing in yourself before you feel ready. It's a discomfort, but it, it's a discomfort that keeps you moving forward. So when you invest in yourself before you can easily afford it, you're kind of giving yourself that stretchiness, that stretchiness that you need to uplevel your business to match that investment.
When you invest in yourself in a way that scares you a little bit, you prove to yourself that you are the kind of woman who backs herself, who chooses herself for that success, who believes in herself. And that is part of the identity shift that we talked about [00:26:00] in decision one. Now, I wanna be really clear here.
I am just not one of those people that is ever gonna say to someone, you know, be reckless, be irresponsible. Put yourself in debt that you can't manage to do this. That's just, it's common sense not to do that. Your trust in your intuition will only grow if you balance it. With responsibility, right? If you make investments that are gonna absolutely jeopardize your basic security, that is a nonsense that makes no sense whatsoever.
But you know the truth, you know whether you are resisting in investing your in yourself because you genuinely do not have. The money to do that right now, and if you were to stretch to find it, it would be irresponsible, right? You know if that's true, [00:27:00] but you also know if that is a reason that you will continue to put in front of yourself because it's a really comfortable way of avoiding that growth.
Growth is uncomfortable. Investment is uncomfortable. And becoming the woman that we talked about in decision one that can hold that vision, that's deeply uncomfortable. Staying as you are, like we talked about last week, staying as you are, staying safe is the most comfortable thing to do. But here's the thing, I'll tell you what is even more uncomfortable.
If we get to December, 2026, this time next year, and you are realizing you are in exactly the same place you are right now because you are too afraid to take things to the next level 'cause you are too afraid to back yourself. That's even more uncomfortable. So this is your third decision. What investment do you need to make in yourself [00:28:00] in 2026?
So is it hiring a mentor that you've been following and haven't reached out to you yet? Is it doing that? Is it making the call? Is it reaching out? Is it joining a mastermind that's gonna connect you with women who are playing at the level that you wanna play at? Is it a training that you know you need to invest in that would give you the skills you need to deliver at the level you really wanna be delivering at?
Is it working with someone? Maybe me? Hello? Hello, coach extraordinaire over here. Is it working with someone like me who can help you do that deep identity work? Who can help you become the woman who builds that legacy business that you're dreaming of, right? Whatever it is, I want you to just write it down, and then underneath, I want you to write down all of the reasons that you haven't done it yet.
So write down all the fears, all of the [00:29:00] excuses that you use, all the yes buts, and then read them back to yourself. And when you read them back, I want you to ask yourself, are these the thoughts of the woman that I decided to become? Are these the fears of someone who is committed to building this legacy business, doing that work that matters to them?
Which is really what I mean when I talk about a legacy business. I mean, just going all in on building a business where you get to do the work that matters most to you, right? Are these the excuses of someone who's going to make 2026 extraordinary, because I'm gonna bet they're not. I'm gonna bet that they are.
The thoughts and fears and excuses of the woman that you've been being the one whose identity is now about to be upleveled. So there we go. Three decisions, three opportunities to make sure that [00:30:00] 2026 really is your year. Number one, you're gonna decide to uplevel your identity and become the woman you need to be to hold the vision you have.
Number two, you are gonna decide to say no to anything that's misaligned with your values or that vision. And number three, you are gonna decide to invest in yourself, to choose yourself and back yourself for that success that you want to have achieved by the end of next year. And of course, like any decision, the decision itself means absolutely nothing until you implement it.
Until you follow through on that decision. So I want to leave you with this thought. I would love you as we come to the end of 2025 and go into 2026 to make one concrete move on each of those three decisions. [00:31:00] So for decision one, I want you to write a really detailed description of the woman you are becoming and choose one action that that woman would take that terrifies the woman you've been being, and then take it, treat it like an experiment.
You know how much I love an experiment, right? What is something that you could choose to do that is aligned with the woman you are becoming? That would really frighten the woman that you've been being for decision two, saying, no, I want you to identify one thing you are currently doing that's misaligned and start thinking about your exit strategy.
Is it a difficult conversation that you need to have? Is it a tough email that you need to send? Right? And then for decision three, the investment, I want you to research the investment. You know, you need to make. Do the thing. Book the discovery call, request the proposal from someone. Look at your finances and start [00:32:00] figuring out how will you invest in yourself in ne next year.
When will it be? Don't wait for like perfect clarity on any of this. Don't wait to feel ready. We've talked about this lots of times. Just make the decision. As business owners, one of the most important skills we can ever develop is the art of decision making, and this is where I want you to, if necessary, go back, find all of, put intuition in the search.
Find the episodes where we're talking about intuition, because your intuition is your friend when it comes to decision making. If you know how to tune into your gut, if you know what a full-bodied yes feels like in your body and what a full-bodied no feels like, right, it makes decision making a hell of a lot easier.
Okay, so if you are listening to this and you are thinking, Gill. Yes, yes, I know I need to do this work. I know that I need to become [00:33:00] the woman who can do this, but I need someone to help me figure it out. I need someone to help me become her. I need someone to help me be accountable. Well, that is exactly what I do with my one-to-one legacy clients.
Right. So if you want to talk to me about what it could look like to work together in 2026, then reach out to me. Right? You can do that in lots of different ways. You can go to my website, gillmoakes.com. You can DM me on LinkedIn. And I'll put the link for that in here. And also you can book a call with me.
I will pop a link into the show notes of this episode. Scheduling that call could be that one powerful action that you could take, right? Find out. Sometimes the investment isn't even as scary as you thought it was [00:34:00] gonna be. When you think about what it represents in terms of what you want. Okay, I would love to talk to you.
Alright. Okay. My love people. I hope that has helped. I think all of those three decisions, and also I just wanna be clear as well. I am not saying that the last one about investment. I'm not saying that as only a way to get you to book a discovery call or breakthrough session, whatever you wanna call it with me.
That is not my only reason for saying it. I mean, yeah, I would love you to, but listen, that might not be the right next investment for you. Working with a business coach might not be what you need right now, so don't think only into those terms. Think about what would the right next investment for you be.
Right? Okay. Well listen, thank you. That's it for me for 2025. Thank you so much for tuning in, for [00:35:00] listening. Being the kind of woman that wants to rewild her business, do the work that matters the most. I freaking love recording this podcast. I just love it every year that I do it, and I'm in the third, this is the end of the third year of this podcast, I.
Well, it's just such a pleasure to record these episodes. I feel really lucky. I feel really lucky to have this as my platform, and of course it's not luck. Well, it's bloody hard work, but I love it. It's all worthwhile. So have an amazing new year, however you're celebrating, and I will speak to you next time in 2026.
Have a good one. Happy New Year everyone. Bye for now.
