Every shop owner feels it around this time of year as the calendar edges toward December, the holidays begin, and we all know it is time to look ahead. As budgeting season arrives, targets need to be set, and plans need to be written. Whether you operate a single location shop or a multi-location operation, the impulse is the same—you begin thinking about next year. You start imagining how much stronger, more profitable, and more stable your shop could be. You grab a notebook or open a spreadsheet, and the ideas begin flowing. Sales goals, equipment upgrades, hiring plans, training investments, and personal goals all pour out quickly because for a moment you can see your life and your future shop clearly. If only it stayed that clear.
In my work coaching owners across the country, I have seen the same pattern repeat every year. By the time December hits, owners are full of energy and intention. They write ambitious goals and talk about their dreams for the next year. Then January arrives and daily life hits. Their master technician quits, car count does not increase, and it’s back to the same old grind. The goal setting and strategic planning that seemed so ready to go in December dissolves, and those goals slip into the background.
The frustrating part is that most owners are not short on intelligence, motivation, or desire. They care deeply about their business and understand the importance of planning. They know their numbers, yet year after year, they struggle to follow through on the goals they set. The gap between intention and execution begins to feel personal. They think they are the problem, or that they simply lack discipline, or that something must be wrong with them because they can lead others but cannot seem to lead themselves at the same level. But there is nothing wrong with you; the issue is not who you are, it is the way goal setting interacts with human psychology.
A Protective Reflex
Every time you set a goal, you trigger a quiet conflict inside yourself. Part of you—the visionary part—sees possibilities and imagines a stronger future. But another part of you—the protective part—prefers the familiar. We are wired to avoid risk, discomfort, and anything that might stretch our sense of safety. That protective side is not our enemy; it is simply doing its job. The problem is that the bigger the goal, the more resistance it generates, and that resistance often shows up as procrastination, distraction, busy work, or the desire to wait for the perfect moment.
Shop owners feel this more intensely than most because our work demands responsiveness. We are trained to solve, fix, and jump into activity. We are rewarded for speed and control. Yet long-term goals require something very different. They require consistency rather than urgency, patience rather than adrenaline, and the willingness to delay gratification for a future payoff. Those muscles are underdeveloped for many of us, not because we are flawed, but because our industry and “microwave society” trains us differently.
This is why so many well-intentioned shop owners enter the year with strong goals and end the year disappointed. They are trying to apply sprint habits to a marathon objective, and the mismatch becomes unbearable. They assume they lack discipline when the truth is they lack structure. They assume they need more motivation when the truth is they need better systems. They assume they are stuck when what they really need is a different approach.
A Mindful Shift
Here is the encouraging part: when you understand this tension, everything changes. You stop looking at goal setting as a one-time exercise and start treating it as a leadership discipline. You begin designing an environment that supports your goals rather than competing with them. You start building routines that make the right actions automatic, and you shift from relying on motivation to relying on structure, measurement, and accountability.
This is the same concept Scott Hallman highlighted during his presentation at our Hypergrowth Summit in November. He used simple math to show how a few percentage points of improvement in several core KPIs can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your bottom line and multiply the value of your business. He showed that huge gains are not created by leapfrog movements, but by small improvements that compound over a year. If you increase leads slightly, improve appointment conversions slightly, deliver estimates more consistently, raise your quality inspection rate, and lift your ARO by a modest amount, your business changes dramatically. The numbers we worked through in that exercise were not theoretical; they were practical illustrations of what consistency produces.
Building the Supporting Structure
But here is the key—not one of those compounding strategies work without goal alignment and follow-through. The math only comes alive when the behaviors behind it are carried out week after week, and this is exactly where most of us fall short, not because we can’t do it, but because we have never built the supporting structure around our goal. As you work on your goals and budgets for next year, I want to offer a few observations from years of coaching owners through this season.
- Clarity matters far more than volume. You do not need 15 goals. You need one or two that truly matter, the ones that will make everything else easier or unnecessary. Too many owners create long lists and then become overwhelmed because they try to tackle everything at once. Choose fewer goals and go deeper on them.
- Structure beats intensity. It is better to commit to a 15-minute daily discipline you actually follow than a 90-minute routine you abandon by week three. The owners who win are not the ones who make the biggest promises, but the ones who build the simplest systems.
- Weekly measurement is non-negotiable. What you measure moves, what you ignore decays. Track sales, car count, gross profit, ARO, hours billed, and expenses weekly instead of monthly so you can adjust quickly rather than being surprised at the end of the quarter.
- Accountability accelerates everything. Find someone who will tell you the truth, reinforce your commitments, and not let you drift into comfortable excuses.
- Renewal is leadership. You cannot run a better business from a depleted body and a burned-out mind. Rest, space to think, and healthy rhythms are not luxuries, they are strategic tools. The owners who build the most profitable shops over the long-term are the ones who protect their energy as fiercely as they protect their margins.
The reason I am emphasizing this now is because December is a turning point. The planning you do in the next 30 days will determine the results you experience next year. Your goals will not happen by accident. They will not materialize because you hope for them, they will come to fruition because you built the system necessary to support them.
Your shop can grow next year; your profit can improve, your stress can decrease, and your systems can strengthen. But it will happen through consistent execution, not heroic bursts of activity. It all begins with how you approach your goals right now, before the new year arrives and life speeds up again.
With that, have a great holiday season with your loved ones, and take a minute to write to me and share your goals for next year: [email protected]
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