Hard to believe another year is already in the rearview mirror. Have you taken a moment to reflect on yours? I began last week during our wonderful journaling gathering, where we “harvested” the moments—big and small—that shaped us this year.

This season is always a quieter one for me. I find myself writing, thinking, reflecting more than usual. And naturally, my eyes drift toward the year ahead. I’ve already bought my 2026 calendar, and as I do every December, I’ll soon write my goals on the first page.

As you begin planning for the new year, I want to share a tool I often use in conversations with coaching clients who are thinking about goals: the worst-case scenario. 
Many of us—myself included—tend to define the worst-case scenario in terms of external losses: losing money, a job, a reputation, or feeling shame and embarrassment if a plan doesn’t work out. We treat these imagined failures as the ultimate outcome and use them as justification to avoid setting big goals or taking risks.
It took me almost two years after earning my certification to actually start my coaching business. I had so many reasons not to begin, and every one of them kept me safe. But eventually I realized that I would never know what was possible for me unless I tried.

What’s a big goal you have for next year? When you’re deciding whether to go after it, I want to offer a different way of thinking about the worst-case scenario. Instead of collapsing into the familiar, contracting question — What will happen if it doesn’t work?—try asking the opposite: What might I lose out on if it does work? What if I succeed?

• What if the real loss isn’t the $10K you invested, but the $50K you never create because you didn’t give your idea a chance?
• What if the real loss isn’t falling off the wagon, missing a day, not doing it perfectly, or not quite reaching your goal—but never discovering who you become in the process of going after something new?

Failure is not the end – its just the beginning. When people don’t come to my workshops, yes, it hurts a little. But I’ve learned to treat it as feedback—an invitation to adjust, refine, and try again.

Think about all the beautiful things you enjoy in life.  Most of them exist because someone had a dream that was bigger than their fear of failure. I think of the mountains I get to climb—each route was imagined, tested, and established by someone willing to go first, someone willing to take the risk so that others could follow and experience that same joy.
What route will you establish for yourself—and perhaps for many others after you?

As you plan for the coming year, challenge yourself to rethink your worst-case scenario. Let it expand you, not shrink you. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Give yourself the chance to try—and yes, even the chance to fail. I’ve experimented with many things in the last ten years that didn’t pan put the way I hoped, but each one moved me closer to who I’ve become and to the life I’m living today.
I believe we rarely regret the effort that we put into chasing our dreams.
The worst-case scenario, my friends, is that you could have…and you didn’t.

And speaking of workshops:
If you’d like to explore this and other ways to reimagine the year ahead, I invite you to come to my next workshop called Imagine 2026 – Discover the Possibility Within You – offered both in person and online. This is not your usual goal-setting workshop. We play with the idea of possibility because I’ve seen firsthand in my coaching practice that clients hold themselves back because they believe their perceived limitations more than their unseen potential.

Warmly,
Janine