98. The BEST way to review 2025 & Plan for 2026 in your small business & life

As we wrap up 2025, I want to invite you to pause before you jump into goal setting, business planning, or strategy for 2026.

In this episode of How to Grow My Small Business, we’re talking about the one thing you need to do before planning for next year—and it has nothing to do with sales funnels, marketing statistics, or even your client work.

If you’re a small business owner, Christian entrepreneur, or faith-led leader who feels:

• discouraged about how this year went

• unsure whether it was a “good year” or a “bad year”

• stuck replaying mistakes, missed goals, or stress

• ready for growth but emotionally exhausted

This episode is for you.

I walk you through why our brains are wired to remember the hard things more than the good, how that affects how we evaluate our business and our lives, and how one simple reflection exercise can completely change how you remember this year—and how you plan the next one.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why your brain remembers stress, mistakes, and fear more than wins

• The science behind negative memory bias and how it impacts entrepreneurs

• How faith and awareness help reframe how we evaluate our business year

• The one exercise you should do before setting business goals for 2026

• Why reviewing your photos and calendar can shift your mindset instantly

• How false narratives (like “I didn’t do enough”) quietly sabotage confidence

• Why reflection should come before goal setting and strategic planning

• How to ask God what He wants for your business in the next season

• Faith-based encouragement for business owners coming out of a hard year

Who this episode is for:

• Christian entrepreneurs and faith-led business owners

• Small business owners reflecting on the end of the year

• Entrepreneurs planning goals for 2026

• Business owners struggling with burnout, discouragement, or comparison

• Leaders who want to grow their business without losing perspective or peace

Key takeaway:

Before you plan what’s next, take time to remember what actually happened.

Your brain won’t automatically remember the good—you have to lead it there on purpose.

This one step may completely change how you view 2025 and how you move into 2026.

About the podcast:

How to Grow My Small Business is a podcast for small business owners who want practical sales strategy, sustainable business growth, and faith-based encouragement without hustle culture.

Hosted by Lindsay Fletcher, business growth strategist and sales coach, the show covers:

• sales and follow-up strategies

• lead generation for small businesses

• faith-based business growth

• integrating faith in business

• mindset, time management, and leadership

• building a business with Jesus at the center

• Biblical business strategies
• Christian entrepreneurship
• growing a sustainable business

If this episode encouraged you, make sure to follow the podcast so you don’t miss the final episode of 2025 and what’s coming next.

Let’s stay connected:

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a fellow small business owner who needs encouragement heading into the new year.

And remember: You are not behind. You are not failing. And there was more good in this year than your brain is letting you remember.

 

🎧 Listen to Episode 98 now and take this one step before planning 2026.

 

TIME STAMPS:

Episode 98 – One Thing You Must Do Before Planning 2026

• 0:00–1:00 – Welcome, episode 98 celebration, faith-based business encouragement

• 1:01–2:10 – End-of-year reflection question: How was this year really?

• 2:11–4:30 – Why our brains remember the bad more than the good (science + survival)

• 4:31–6:20 – The danger of letting your brain define the story of your year

• 6:21–7:30 – The ONE thing to do before planning for 2026

• 7:31–11:30 – Lindsay walks through personal 2025 memories (family, business, faith)

• 11:31–12:40 – Challenging the false narratives we carry about ourselves

• 12:41–14:10 – Why reflection must come before goal-setting

• 14:11–15:40 – Asking God what He wants for your next season

• 15:41–end – Gratitude, encouragement

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome back to How to Grow My Small
Business.
I am your host, Lindsay Fletcher.
I'm also your cheerleader, business growth strategist, your
sales and marketing girl, and I bring that
all to you with a dose of faith.
If you wanna build your business with Jesus
at the center, this is the show for
you.
We are on episode 98, and I know

(00:22):
I say this every single time, but I
really can't believe it.
We are nearing the end of 2025, and
I am so excited to see what God
has in store for all of us in
2026.
If you haven't hit that follow button on
your podcast player app, will you hit pause
really quick and do that for me now?
Go ahead, I'll wait.

(00:43):
Okay, so my small business friends, as we
round out this year, I want to ask
you a question.
How was this year for you?
I know people who have had a really
great year, and I know people that have
had a particularly hard year this year, but
I was listening to a podcast a while

(01:05):
back and something struck a chord with me.
How do you know if you've had a
good year or a bad year?
Are you going on a feeling?
Have you reviewed the year?
Because our brains are wired to keep us
safe.
They're wired to protect us, and our brains
also tend to remember all of the bad

(01:25):
stuff, and there's actual science behind it, and
it's part of that keeping us safe thing,
right?
We have survival instincts, so way back when
we remember that a predator or a poisonous
berry, we remember those things so that we
can keep ourselves safe and protected, and so

(01:47):
your brain strengthens negative memories as a safeguard.
We also have something called amygdala activation, and
this is where your negative emotions, like fear,
trigger stress hormones, so adrenaline and cortisol, right?
And that strongly activates the amygdala or the

(02:08):
brain's fear center, and that creates powerful, detailed
memories in our brains.
And then we also have trauma responses.
Trauma can hijack our system, right?
It can hijack our brains.
It leaves the amygdala on high alert, and
we can store those intense memories rather than

(02:30):
coherent stories, and sometimes those trauma responses make
those memories feel like they're happening now, right?
So I say all that to say that
our brains are trying to keep us safe,
and so this is something that we need
to be aware of as we look at
our businesses, our faith, our lives, our relationships,

(02:51):
and we really have to keep in mind
that our brains are going to only remember
the bad things, the ugly things, the unsafe
things, to continue to try to keep us
safe.
So friends, I want to remember this.
I want you to remember this, and I
want you to put it on a sticky
note on your laptop or somewhere that reminds

(03:12):
you that your brain won't remember the good
things right away.
We kind of have to force our brains
to go to the good, and I want
you to know that even if you've had
a hard year, there were likely some good
things that happened too, and even if this
year didn't turn out the way that you
wanted it to in your business or your
relationships or with your health, there was some

(03:35):
good in there, even if it was only
a glimmer, even if, okay?
So that brings me to the one thing,
the one thing that we all need to
do before 2026 rolls into town, okay?
I want you to go back through your
photos on your phone and back through your

(03:57):
calendar, and I want you to take note
of all of the good that actually happened
in 2025, because I bet if you're like
me, which I, if you're listening to this
podcast, we have some similarities, right?
I bet that you don't remember a lot
of the good things.
I sure didn't remember all the good things,

(04:19):
and when I did this, it was astonishing
to me.
So I'm gonna scroll back through some of
the good that happened in my life and
business this year, because I wanna point out
a couple of things to you along the
way, okay?
So I'm going, I'm getting my phone here
and I'm scrolling.
I've got January kind of queued up, January

(04:41):
2025, and back in January, we went to
see my husband's aunt and uncle and cousin.
They live about four hours from us in
San Antonio, and we got to see the
Alamo.
Oh, look, there's, we went to Enchanted Rock.
I got to watch my daughter play basketball
for the first time.

(05:03):
Oh, and there's photos of me speaking at
a local women's conference that hosted about 200
women.
I had the privilege of praying over all
of their seats before the conference started.
That was awesome, and I am so grateful
for that opportunity.
Okay, in February, I got to watch my
daughter play softball for the first time.

(05:25):
I got to watch one of my sons,
oh, there's him playing seven-on-seven touch
football, like two-hand touch, I guess.
I don't know what you call that.
Oh, I spent time in our hot tub
with all four of my kids.
Look at that.
Oh, we played 20 questions, you know that,
where you think of a person plays your
thing, and then the other people ask up

(05:46):
to 20 questions to guess who it is
or what it is or whatever.
I did sales training with a local home
builder.
I actually negotiated better pricing in our other
business.
I forgot about that.
In March, I helped out at my daughter's
school field day, and I watched one of
my sons play soccer.

(06:07):
Oh, and my dad came to visit.
We went to the Houston Rodeo, and I
was introduced to Zach Top, who is now
one of my favorite country artists.
I also went on a field trip with
my son.
Oh, and I also went to the rodeo
with my mom and sister and our husbands,
and we saw Brooks Undone.
Oh, I forgot about this field trip.

(06:28):
I also went on a field trip with
my daughter, and I did a few sales
workshops in March.
I won't take you through my entire year,
but that's just my pictures.
I haven't even shared my calendar with you,
okay?
So much good happened this year, and one
thing that I wanna point out to you
is that I have this narrative running in

(06:50):
my head that I don't spend enough time
with my kids, but if you look back
through my pictures, we spent a ton of
time together, and I have the photos to
prove it.
So let me ask you this, friend.
What narrative do you have running through your
head?
Because the enemy of our souls would love
to keep that story running in my head.

(07:12):
He would love to keep the story of,
you don't spend enough time with your kids
in my head because that makes me feel
guilty, and it makes me feel bad, and
it makes me feel like I'm not a
good mom, and I'm not a good wife,
and I'm not a good friend, and I'm
not a good this or a that or
the other, right?
He would love to keep us from knowing
how good our life really is, because if

(07:35):
we know how good our life really is,
then we thank God for it, right?
We thank God for all of that, and
that's not to discredit or diminish the hard
things, because let me tell you, I've gone
through some hard things this year, and I
know you have too, but if I relied
on my brain to remember, it would only

(07:57):
remember the mistakes, the stupid things I've said,
the goals I didn't hit, the time I
didn't spend enjoying my life, the stress, the
lack, all the terrible things, right?
All the bad, to keep me safe from
those predators and poisonous berries out there, right?
Yeah, and if I actually look at what's

(08:17):
happened this year, there was so much good,
but my brain did not remember hardly any
of it.
So I really encourage you, like I really,
really want you to do this, because it
just might change your perspective on this year.
And I encourage you to do this before
you set any goals for 2026.

(08:38):
If you've already started making plans, that's okay.
Go back and do this, and then review
your plans, okay?
Review what really happened in 2025, because it
might just surprise you.
I know I was surprised at all of
the good, all of the good that I
had documented, and I'm terrible at documenting things.

(09:00):
I am not the person that whips out
my phone and takes pictures and documents every
moment of the day or at night, okay?
Oh my gosh, my oldest son learned to
drive, I forgot.
I mean, he'd recently got his license, but
I had forgotten I took a picture of
him the first time he drove, oh my
gosh.
I also became a plant lady.
I have a lemon tree and a lime

(09:20):
tree, and I've slowly begun to fill my
house with plants, and I'm loving it.
Oh, and I forgot we went fishing.
Actually, my boys, my husband and boys went
fishing a lot this summer, but we did
go fishing as a whole family a couple
of times, and I enjoyed that.
I watched my oldest sons play a lot
of football.
I don't think I've ever watched so much

(09:41):
football in all of my life, and it's
been one of my greatest joys this year.
Oh, and there's a selfie.
There's a selfie of me recording this podcast.
I got to spend a little bit of
time with you each week, and I'm so
grateful for that.
I care about this show so much, and
I love that you come here to learn,
and that you share your struggles with me,

(10:02):
and that we get to work through them
together.
So really, friend, do this exercise.
Do it with your spouse, your best friend,
your business partner, your kids.
In fact, one of the things we do
as a family after Christmas, before January 1
hits, is we sit down and we have
our kids, we all write out some goals

(10:23):
for 2026, and, or for the next year,
and I'm gonna have them do this.
I'm going to have them go back through
their phones.
My oldest two have phones.
My younger two do not.
But I'm gonna have them go back through
it, and I'll have our younger two go
back through my photos with me.
I think this is a really great thing

(10:43):
to do because their brains will do the
same things as ours.
We have to teach them to intentionally look
back and remember the good.
And I'm so thankful that I ran across
this in a podcast episode.
Then, after you've done this exercise, then start
planning for next year.
Plan to get more of your favorite clients.

(11:04):
Plan to do more of the work that
you love doing.
Plan to expand your team.
Plan to spend more time with your family
and friends.
Ask God what he wants for you in
2026, okay?
Ask him what that looks like in your
business, who he wants you to serve, where
he wants you to spend your time, what
services he wants you to provide, what products
he wants you to offer.

(11:27):
Maybe it's simplifying.
Maybe it's scaling back the number of offers
you have and really going all in on
one.
Maybe it's stepping out in faith.
That one was a big one for me
in 2025, just taking the next step in
faith.
Oh, baby.
It was a faith-stretching year.
But you know what?
God provided.

(11:48):
He provided and he protected and he showed
me an unbelievable amount of grace.
And so I am just so thankful for
this year, especially after doing this one thing.
It was so good for my brain to
remember all of the good because it doesn't
default to that.
It defaults to all the bad, right?
So go do this.

(12:09):
It will literally change how you remember this
year, okay?
All right, next week will be our last
episode of 2025.
It'll be episode 99.
Friends, it feels like we just started this
show together yesterday.
It wasn't.
It was more than 99 weeks ago.
I can't, I don't even know where the
time goes.
But go.

(12:30):
I want you to go do this one
thing.
It may be the most important thing you
do in all of your planning for 2026.
So go, go do it, okay?
And if no one has told you today,
you are amazing.
I'm so proud of you.
I'm so proud of you for showing up.
If you haven't already, go hit that follow
button on this podcast so you don't miss
anything coming for 2026 because it's going to

(12:52):
be another great year, okay?
All right, friends, that's a wrap on episode
98.
Go do the one thing.
I'm praying for you and I'm praying for
your business and I'll talk to you next
week.