Early January, 2023.

I'm looking at our work calendar and freaking out just a little (ok, maybe a lot).

It's basically empty. We're eight days into the year and it’s hard to see what's coming. It’s making revenue forecasting tough and I’m definitely not feeling okay.

So my thought keeps looping: If we don't see it now, it might not happen.

This was me trying to solve the entire year in the first week all while demanding answers that don't exist yet.

Now flash forward to early January, 2026.

Same desk with a calendar still containing plenty of white space. The year is still a bit uncertain.

The difference is, there is no panicking this time around. And the biggest thing that has changed is me.

What I Got Wrong

Three years ago, I treated January like a verdict.

Empty calendar meant failure. No visibility meant we were behind. Looking at the first week of the year and deciding it told me something about all twelve months.

That fear made me say yes to the wrong things.

Projects I didn’t really want. Work that felt safe but wasn’t aligned. I confused being busy with making progress.

Being a little bit scared meant not seeing things clearly. It was me making decisions from scarcity instead of thinking about what I actually wanted to be doing.

I thought I was being responsible, but really I was just panicking.

How This Actually Works

Somewhere between January 2023 and January 2026, I figured out that most good work doesn’t all show up by this first month in the new year.

It takes months to build the right trust. Relationships mature slowly. The best projects often come from conversations that started way earlier.

You can’t forecast recurring work perfectly. It gets built over time, not predicted in week or month one.

Uncertainty is normal. That’s the thing I had to learn. Not dangerous. Just normal.

I came to realize that January doesn’t need to be packed for the year to work out. The calendar doesn’t need to be solved by January 10th.

The uncertainty didn’t go away. And we still don’t know exactly how this year will unfold.

But now I know I can handle whatever comes. It’s a type of confidence. Not knowing what will happen, or when, but believing and knowing it will happen.

Abundance Isn’t A Feeling

At some point I stopped operating from scarcity. I slowed down and started looking for abundance instead.

Not in a “woo-woo” way. In a practical way.

Gratitude for the stability we’ve built. Giving value without keeping score. Asking for payment when the value is clear. Being patient with timing.

I learned that when I slow down, things actually speed up. Clarity improves. Relationships deepen. The work gets better.

How can you slow down? Stop trying to race the calendar? Most of what matters takes months to develop anyway.

What are you trying to solve in week one that actually needs time to unfold?

It’s Just Week One

If you’re looking at your calendar right now feeling behind, I get it.

Early January has a tendency to make everything feel urgent. Like you should already know how the year will go. Like empty space means something’s wrong.

Now I know it doesn’t need to feel that way.

Now, January is a starting line. Not a verdict. A partial snapshot. Not a judgment on my worth or whether or not our business works.

The work will come. I’ll give it time. Stop demanding certainty that doesn’t exist yet.

Three years ago, I was panicking in early January. Today I’m calm, even on January 13th.

Same uncertainty. Different interpretation.

A change in perspective made all the difference.

Grateful you are here,

Wade