Ep #121: January Is a Decision Month, Not a Goal Month

If you want a different financial year, you don't need better goals, you need decisions that don't keep reopening. This is especially important to understand because most women have been conditioned to stay emotionally available to doubt and second guessing, especially when it comes to money.

I'm Kendall, and in this episode of The Money Coach School Podcast, I'm showing you why January is a decision month, much more so than a goal month. We'll talk about the emotional authority it takes to stay with a decision, so the choices you make this month actually compound. And I've included three powerful coaching questions to support you in staying steady with your decisions instead of wobbling.

This is how you turn January decisions into real momentum and higher income starting right now. It's all here for you in this episode of The Money Coach School Podcast. Let's dive in.

Welcome to The Money Coach School Podcast. To really excel at coaching women, you have to be skilled, confident, and even fearless at money coaching. If you're passionate about women holding genuine money power and love supporting women entrepreneurs, then this is the show for you. Now, here's your host, money feminist Kendall SummerHawk.

Hello, beautiful coach. Let's talk about January. January has such a reputation. It's the month of planning. It's the month of goals, the month of fresh starts. And while I love all of that, I am a planning nerd after all, I want to offer you a reframe right out of the gate.

How about if January is not a goal month, but January is a decision month? Because once the bloom of January wears off, what impacts your momentum all year long is decision stability. Momentum doesn't come from better goals, it comes from decisions that don't keep reopening. And if you've ever felt like you're thoughtful, strategic, capable, but somehow still revisiting the same choices month after month, this episode is for you. I so get you.

Because in this episode, we're going to talk about three things. Number one, why January is your month to create decision stability instead of wobbliness. Number two, why re-deciding isn't neutral, especially when it comes to money. And number three, how to build the emotional authority that lets your decisions stick. So if you've ever felt like you keep circling the same choices, this will change how you lead yourself.

Now, before we dive in, go ahead and click the follow button. I am your money coach and every new episode is here to strengthen your coaching, strengthen your cash flow, and your clarity in your relationship with money.

Today's episode is part of a really intentional January arc I created for you. And so if you haven't listened yet, definitely check out episode 120, which is all about creating an extraordinary money goal. And check out episode 117, which is about closing out 2025 cleanly so that you're not dragging unfinished business into this year. I'll link to those in the show notes below. And if you're catching these episodes in a month other than January, I would still listen to them. You're going to find them incredibly valuable.

So as we dive in, I want to give a shout out to the women inside my Secret Energy of Money coaching program. I was coaching a few of them one-on-one yesterday, and I am so struck by the quality of women Secret Energy of Money attracts. Now this moment isn't meant to be a pitch for Secret Energy of Money. This moment between me and you is really a public acknowledgement of these women who are strong, sensitive, caring, and deeply committed to helping their clients in whatever their specialty is.

And I want to give them a shout out today because they devour this podcast. They show up for their coaching willing to be authentic and willing to make changes to themselves and to their businesses. And that takes courage. And I'm so proud of them for being courageous even though they definitely feel fear. I mean, there's no doubt about it.

I've always been the person women come to when they're at a crossroads, where they're starting a new business or a new level of their business. And that crossroads where they want to grow can feel very scary, and I get that. So to you, my beautiful Secret Energy of Money clients listening right now, I love you, and I am so honored to be your money and business coach.

All right, with that said, let's dive into today's topic, which is so relevant. So first we're going to talk about why January creates so much decision wobbliness. January creates kind of a strange psychological environment. I mean, I love it because everything feels possible. Every option feels available. Every path feels like it could be the right one. I love all of that. It gets me excited because I obsess with possibility.

But here's what I've discovered. While that all sounds empowering, it actually does something subtle. It turns decisions into drafts. Instead of deciding and moving forward, we decide provisionally. In other words, we decide but we leave the door open, saying things like, "Well, I'll try this for now," or "I'll see how it feels," or "I can always change my mind."

Now, flexibility is not the problem here, and I believe me, I'm all for flexibility. Even discernment is not the problem. Being thoughtful is not the problem. The issue is what happens emotionally when every decision stays available to doubt and to re-decision. These are what I call open decisions and every open decision costs you something, and that cost shows up. It shows up as mental drain, scattered energy, delayed implementation, and of course, delayed income.

Which leads me to my second point. There is an emotional tax of re-deciding. Every time a decision reopens, you pay an emotional tax. Not because you're not a good decision maker, but because your nervous system has to re-engage the same question again and again.

Think about some of the decisions that tend to reopen for you. Things like you might find yourself saying, "Is this offer what I want to focus on? Is this the right schedule? Should I raise my rates now or later? Is this the right level of visibility for me? Am I headed in the right direction?" None of these are not necessarily bad questions, but when they stay open indefinitely, what happens is implementation, execution slows, confidence thins out, your energy leaks. And over time, what happens is self-trust erodes, not dramatically all at once, but quietly, one day at a time. It's like drip, drip, drip. Only what's dripping away is your self-trust. And the takeaway point on this is that leadership isn't just about making decisions, it's about staying with them long enough to give them a chance to work.

Which leads me to point number three. Re-deciding is not neutral. And what I mean by that is that re-deciding fragments focus, it interrupts momentum, it keeps results in a perpetual holding pattern. It's like the airplane circling the airport but it never actually lands. And here's the part where this starts to become expensive. Money follows energy. When your energy is split between action and internal negotiation, money feels that. Not in a mystical way, but in a very practical way.

So for example, things take longer, offers don't get fully embodied, meaning you find yourself not fully believing in the strength of your offer and in its value. Visibility gets tentative. Decisions don't compound and decisions don't have time to mature.

What I'm saying is that many women feel they need to be flexible when actually it's something else. There's a real difference between flexibility and self-abandonment. And if you're not clear on how to tell the difference, you're going to keep reopening decisions that were never meant to be renegotiated. So for example, flexibility is you responding to new information. Self-abandonment as a contrast is responding to discomfort.

Another example, you get some new data, some new information, you make an adjustment. Things in the market shift, you respond. You get some clear feedback, you refine. That's leadership and that's flexibility. But discomfort, discomfort is not a signal to reopen everything. Discomfort often means you're stretching, you're building capacity, you're asking yourself to lead at a higher level, to do something new.

And this is where women are often socialized in a way that works against them. Because women are praised for being emotionally responsive, for being adaptable, for staying open. And we are like that as creatures, no doubt about it. But financial leadership, it requires emotional containment. You don't owe every doubt a conversation. You don't owe every wobble a renegotiation, and you don't owe every uncomfortable feeling a new decision. I really want you to write those three things down. Let me say them again. You don't owe every doubt a conversation, you don't owe every wobble a renegotiation, and you do not owe every uncomfortable feeling a new decision.

And that's what I mean by emotional containment. So if emotional containment is part of financial leadership, then the real question actually becomes this one. What does it look like to lead yourself emotionally after a decision is made? The next question is, what's the skill that allows you to move forward without constantly checking yourself?

This is where emotional authority really comes in. Emotional authority is the ability to stay with a decision long enough for momentum to build, even when the early days feel neutral or uncertain or unspectacular. Because most decisions don't feel amazing every single day. They just feel kind of normal or they may even feel boring. They feel steady. And steadiness doesn't always get celebrated, but it's actually incredibly powerful.

Emotional authority looks like choosing commitment over constant self-judgment. It means allowing neutral days, like just average days without interpreting them as failure. It means letting time and repetition do their job. Because you don't need stronger motivation, you have plenty of motivation. What you need are fewer internal negotiations.

So January is where this gets set. January matters so much because it sets the tone for how you relate to your own decisions all year. Do you make them and lead them? Or do you make them and keep checking them? Because checking drains energy versus leading, which actually creates energy.

And this isn't about deciding everything all at once. That's not realistic. It's about choosing one decision to close, to say that's complete. So here's the coaching moment I have for you. Close one decision. And let's really dial this in and make it super practical. I want you to ask yourself, what decision in my business keeps reopening? Don't look for 10 different decisions, just one. And then ask this coaching question. What emotion would allow me to close this decision cleanly?

Often the emotion you need to tap into to close that decision cleanly is a quieter emotion like steadiness or patience or trust or resolve. So identify the emotion and then ask your question. This next question which is, what would change if I stopped revisiting this choice for the next 90 days? And the final question, where would my energy go if this decision stayed completed? That's where your source of momentum is going to come from.

So to wrap up here, if January has felt noisy or if your mind feels busy, that's where my brain goes. I get really busy in my brain. If your goals feel clear, but your energy feels scattered, you don't need another plan or planner. You need fewer open loops. January is not about becoming someone new, it's about decide less, decide better, and then let your decisions work for you.

And as we move forward this year, especially into our conversations around money and pricing, which we're going to be having a lot of those this year, this ability to hold decisions steady becomes significantly important to the money that you want to make. Because you as the woman who can stay with a decision is you as the woman who can hold higher income.

All right, a quick reminder, you are here for more and that means more money peace, more money power, more unapologetic wealth on your terms. This is your money empowerment era. I am so here for it. I am so here for you. Thank you for listening, and I will see you next week.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode of The Money Coach School Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you follow so you never miss an episode. Also, I would so love and appreciate if you would leave a 5-star review. Your review supports women just like you in discovering all of the juicy tips and insights I’m sharing here on how to coach women on money.

And if you want to learn how to excel at coaching women on money, definitely go to KendallSummerHawk.com and check out the wealth of money coach trainings that we have for you. Thanks so much for being part of this money coaching movement and for tuning into the show every week.