The Most Overlooked Step Before Setting New Year Goals
- Dilek Süzal
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Every December brings a familiar feeling for me. Not sadness, but a sense of incompleteness, like walking into a newly designed room that’s almost finished, but not fully yours yet.
This week, while closing my last coaching sessions of the year, that feeling appeared again. I was grateful for the people, the progress, the conversations… and still, there was an awareness that something in me wasn’t fully processed yet.
When I first moved to Vienna over a decade ago, my whole life felt like that unfinished room. I was rebuilding everything without a map, no mentor, no structure, just courage and guesswork.
Maybe that’s why I keep creating coaching programs today: to offer others the structured shortcuts I wish I had back then.
As the Christmas lights appear across the city and we prepare to step into a new year, this feeling becomes even more present. It’s a season made for joy, connection and celebration, yet it also invites a pause between what was and what will be.
And it struck me: most of us don’t lack ambition for the new year, we lack closure for the one we just lived and the structure to build the next one.
Problem: We start new year's without completing the old ones
We wish each other Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and we genuinely mean it. Yet many of us carry unfinished stories, unanswered questions and unprocessed moments from the year behind us.
According to a 2024 Forbes Health Survey, 80 percent of New Year’s resolutions fade within the first few months, and only 6 percent last beyond a year. When we skip structured reflection on what worked and what didn’t, we leave valuable insight on the table and move forward without understanding what we’re carrying with us.
Solution: A structured year-end integration
Before the fireworks, resolutions or vision boards… we need closure. Not emotional overthinking, strategic reflection.
In coaching work, professionals who spend even 15 minutes integrating their yearly report to their goals have stronger clarity, more aligned goal setting and more consistent follow-through in Q1.
3 Practical Ways to Close Your Year with Intention
💎 Conduct a 20-minute “Year Audit” while having a walk
Three lines only: What worked. What didn’t. What I learned.
Simple, objective, grounding.
💎 Identify your single leverage point for 2026
Ask: Where would a small improvement create the biggest impact?
Focus beats volume.
💎 Choose an operating principle
One guiding concept: clarity, visibility, capacity, focus, or boundaries.
Harvard Business Review research shows professionals who define a principle outperform those who rely on goals alone.
These grounded, practical steps transform January from a reset into a strategic beginning.
And if you want guidance, structure and a community as you design your next chapter with intention, clarity and momentum, Move Forward 26 was created for exactly that. Early bird enrolment is open until December 31st for those who want to begin the new year with a strong, well-designed foundation.
For those who want to make a decision in January, here is the registration link of ‘Move Forward 26 Information Evening’, on the 8th of January between 18:00-19:00 CET, register now, ask everything you want to know, one hour on Zoom.
Wishing you all who are celebrating a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We will rock 2026 together!
Warmly,
Dilek
Official Collaboration Partners:
★ Lead Coach at the global coaching platform BetterUp based in USA.
★ Executive Coach and Trainer at SparkUs based in Turkey and Netherlands.
★ Impact Partner for coaching, training & facilitation projects at leadership experts Think Beyond Group based in Austria.
★ Leadership Coach at Percoms AG, based in Switzerland.
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