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You’ve set goals before. Probably lots of them.

New year, new planner, fresh vision board. This is the year. You’re motivated. You’re ready. You write it all down with so much intention.

And by February? Maybe March if you’re really committed? Those goals are collecting dust in a notebook you stopped opening.

Here’s what I need you to know: It’s not because you’re lazy. It’s not because you lack discipline or willpower or whatever the productivity gurus want to tell you.

It’s because you’re doing it alone.

The Goal That Almost Didn’t Happen

Last year I hosted a group goal planning session. Just a small group of us getting clear on what we wanted for the year ahead.

And I put something on my list that felt big. Really big. Host a summit.

I originally envisioned it being 100% focused on community building. But something kept needling at me. This feeling that I wanted to expand it somehow. Make it bigger. But I couldn’t figure out what that looked like.

And that’s part of why I kept putting it off.

Now, I know how to run summits. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was I couldn’t figure out what this summit was supposed to BE. What was it for? What was I actually building toward?

So every time Maggie would check in – and she checked in a lot – she’d ask, “When are you going to do your summit? When are you going to do your summit?”

And I’d be like, “Oh yeah, yeah, I’m thinking about it. I’m working on it.”

But I wasn’t really working on it. I was thinking about it. A lot. But I wasn’t executing because I didn’t have clarity yet.

Then it hit me. The coCreator Society. That’s it.

This wasn’t just a summit. This was the launch vehicle for a whole community. A space where creative entrepreneurs could actually support each other, collaborate, grow together.

I was going to build the summit around launching this brand new community.

And suddenly everything made sense.

The Power of Someone Who Won’t Let You Quit

Here’s the interesting part. Part of it was actually good that I put the summit off. Because I needed that time for the real idea to develop. For the Society concept to come together.

But I also needed that constant push from Maggie.

Because without her asking “when are you going to do this?” every time we talked, I might have just let it go entirely.

I might have convinced myself the needling feeling meant it wasn’t the right goal. That the delay meant I should drop it.

Instead, her accountability kept it alive while my brain worked on figuring out what it was actually supposed to be.

So I did it. I hosted the summit. And I launched the coCreator Society with it.

And honestly? If I’d been planning alone, I would have dropped that goal the first time it felt unclear. The first time I couldn’t see exactly how to execute.

I would have told myself, “This isn’t the right time. Maybe next year when I have more clarity.”

And I would have missed the whole thing. The summit. The Society. All of it.

So Maggie, if you’re reading this, thank you. Those of you inside the coCreator Society – it’s really only here because of her. And that cute dress I found at the farmers market that I just knew needed to be the branding. But mostly Maggie.

Why Most Goals Actually Fail

Let’s talk about why goals fail when you’re doing them alone. Because it’s probably not what you think.

They don’t fail because you’re not motivated enough. They don’t fail because you didn’t make them SMART enough or use the right color coding system in your planner.

They fail for way more human reasons:

1. They’re not actually your goals.

They’re “should” goals. The things you think you’re supposed to want. Hit six figures. Post every day. Launch a course. Scale to seven figures.

But are those things you actually want? Or are they just what everyone else seems to be doing?

2. They don’t fit your actual life.

You set them in some inspired moment in January when everything feels possible. But then life happens. Your kid gets sick. A client project takes longer than expected. You need to rest.

And suddenly those goals feel impossible.

3. You’re caught in the “10X” trap.

Where bigger is always better and anything less than massive growth means you’re failing.

But what if you don’t want to 10X? What if you want sustainable, intentional growth that doesn’t require burning yourself out?

Those goals sound way less impressive on Instagram, but they might actually serve your life better.

4. They become another thing you failed at.

When your goals don’t happen, when you adjust them or abandon them, it just becomes another thing that makes you feel bad about yourself.

Another piece of evidence that maybe you’re just not cut out for this.

But that’s not true. Your goals didn’t fail because you failed. They failed because they were set up to fail from the start.

What Changes When You’re Not Alone

When you set goals alone, here’s what happens:

You write them down. You feel good about it. Then life happens. You adjust them quietly. Maybe you tell yourself it’s being flexible. Maybe you just forget about them.

Either way, nobody notices. Nobody asks. Nobody holds you accountable.

When you set goals with community, it’s completely different.

People know what you said. They check in. They ask how it’s going. And here’s the thing – they don’t let you off the hook easily.

But it’s not pressure. It’s not judgment.

It’s people who care about what you’re building saying, “Hey, you said this mattered. What’s going on?”

They also help you adjust when things genuinely need to change. Because life does happen. Priorities shift. Sometimes a goal isn’t the right goal anymore.

But there’s a difference between strategically pivoting and quietly abandoning something because it got hard.

Community helps you figure out which is which.

They reality-check when your goals are too big. When you’re being unrealistic or setting yourself up for burnout.

They also push back when your goals are too small. When you’re playing it safe because you’re scared. When you’re underselling what you’re actually capable of.

And they celebrate with you when you hit milestones. Not just the big wins, but the small progress too. The things that feel insignificant when you’re doing it alone suddenly matter when people are paying attention.

Your goals stop being items on a list and start being actual conversations. Living, breathing things that evolve as you do.

That’s the difference between goal planning alone and goal planning with people who have your back.

How to Set Goals That Actually Stick

So how do you actually do this? How do you set goals that don’t end up abandoned in a notebook by March?

1. Start with what you actually want.

Not what sounds good on paper. Not what you think you should want. Not what everyone else is doing.

What do you want your business to look like in 2025? What do you want your life to feel like? What matters enough to you that you’d do the hard work to make it happen?

2. Use your goals as filters for decisions.

This is huge. When you have clear goals, the random decision-making gets so much easier.

Should you add another workshop? Does it move you toward your goal? Should you launch that new offer? Does it serve what you’re building toward?

Your goals become the lens through which you evaluate everything else.

3. Build in flexibility and reality.

Your goals aren’t tattoos. They can change. Life will happen. Markets shift. Your priorities evolve.

Good goal planning accounts for that. It’s strategic, not rigid.

4. Get people in your corner who will hold you to it.

Not people who will judge you or make you feel bad. People who genuinely want to see you succeed and will push back when you’re about to quit on something that matters.

5. Share them out loud.

There’s real power in declaring what you’re working toward. Not for performance. Not to impress anyone. But because saying it makes it real in a different way.

Join Us for Goal Planning

Next Tuesday, December 9th, I’m hosting a Goal Planning Retreat inside the coCreator Society.

We’re not just setting goals. We’re building out the whole system:

• Quarterly roadmaps for your business and your community
• Planning your event calendar
• Creating engagement strategies that actually support your offers
• All of it

And we’re doing it together. With the accountability, the reality checks, the support that actually makes goals happen.

If you’re tired of setting goals in January and forgetting about them by March, if you want people in your corner who will help you actually achieve what you say matters, come join us.

Don’t just plan your goals for 2025. Plan them with people who will make sure you actually follow through.

Because the goals that change your business? The ones that lead to something you couldn’t have predicted?

Those don’t happen alone.

They happen when you have people who won’t let you quit.

Ready to plan your 2025 goals with real support? Join the coCreator Society and stop building alone.

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What’s one goal you’ve been thinking about but haven’t committed to yet? Drop it in the comments below.