The end of 2024 is nearly here, and 2025 is around the corner. As you hopefully enjoy some downtime this month with your friends and family, I also hope you’re spending time preparing for the year ahead.
While your company’s strategic planning should ideally have been done earlier in the year, now is a great time to ensure your calendar is straight. This is the secret to the question I was asked most at events last month — “You’re everywhere! How do you manage it all?”
With my job as a coach through The Grow Group, I may travel a bit more than the average landscaper, but whether your schedule is packed with trips out of town, kids’ sports schedules or big projects, planning out the year is a smart way to ensure you’re in the right place at the right time.
Here’s what I recommend you do:
1. Start with can’t-miss personal events — weddings, birthdays you must be in town for, holidays and family vacations.
Anything you absolutely must be at, make sure it’s on your calendar and properly blocked so you don’t accidentally double-book yourself later. And don’t forget the vacation. Even if it’s just a long weekend away, prioritize some downtime with your loved ones.
2. Layer on your work commitments.
Add big deadlines, project kick-off dates or industry events you want to attend, such as GROW! 2025, which my Grow Group team and I host. (Nudge, nudge — this year, it’s in Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 24-26, and features a tour of Jason Cromley’s Hidden Creek Landscaping.)
3. Think through the horticultural calendar.
The landscaping business has a seasonal component, and even if you work year-round, it can be helpful to map out what’s happening and when. Depending on your role within a company, there may be times of the year when it’s harder for you to be away from the office because of the type of work being done and how much hands-on management it requires.
4. Add strategic planning times.
If you’re an owner or a company leader, pick dates to have strategic planning time, discuss the company’s goals and what steps are necessary to achieve them. If you’re in a different role within the company, you may want to set aside time on your calendar to think through your own professional goals and discuss progress toward them with your manager.
Taking these steps and being intentional with our time is the best way to fit in everything we want and need to do in a year. Intentionality is the key to achieving work-life harmony. I don’t say “balance” because I’m not sure I believe that the scales can ever be completely balanced, but I do think we can find ways for our personal and professional lives to be less in conflict with each other when we are organized, prepared and intentional.
Unexpected things will always happen, and we can’t plan for everything. But focusing on what we can control and schedule reduces the noise and stress when we face the unexpected.
Do what you can to get 2025 in order now; you’ll thank me later.
P.S. I’d love to see you and your team in Columbus at GROW! 2025. We have a great event planned that includes breakout sessions for members of your leadership team, energetic main-stage sessions, networking opportunities and an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Hidden Creek Landscaping’s facility and operation. Learn from some of the best in the business; it makes a great end-of-the-year gift to your team.
