Hey! It’s December and you know what that means: it’s retrospective & resolution season!

Here’s mine.

2025 was transformational for me. When I started the year, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to accomplish. I was unknowingly on autopilot. Well, the year isn’t over and I’ve already made more progress deciding where I want to go and how to get there than I did in the previous ten years.

What changed?
Intentionality.

Basically, I finally realized that I needed a professional reset. I hadn’t made the impact I wanted to make in my career. I had let years of stability and security downshift my career into slow growth mode. Read more about my catharsis.

After the initial shock of ice-cold reality, I decided to lean into my longevity instead of run from it. And I created a plan to avoid getting lulled back into complacency.

I would double-down on my experience (the good and the bad) and own the hell out of it.
I would study and connect with people who were successfully doing what I wanted to do.
I would set goals for myself and document my progress relentlessly.
I would develop my ideas, my voice, my perspective, and my process.

So I did. Ruthlessly.

Now I’m outwardly becoming the guy I’ve always known myself to be. I’m acting on my thoughts and ideas instead of letting them stay tucked away in my head.

Here’s what intentionality looked like for me this year

• I read a slew of books from big movers in higher ed, marketing, leadership, and creativity.
• I reached out to over a dozen authors, podcasters, thought leaders, and industry heavyweights asking to learn their story and share professional advice. To my great surprise, each person I asked accepted.
• I wrote a dozen articles about marketing, team-building, and leadership.
• I built a handful of custom GPTs and freely shared them.
• I presented at two conferences and facilitated an intensive workshop.
• I brought my own voluntary 360 performance feedback summary and a list of professional goals to my annual evaluation unsolicited.
• I challenged my team to set their own goals and empowered them to take ownership of projects and tasks I used to keep for myself.
• I’m developing content for a book.
• I launched my own website.

And what came out of that effort?

• I led several major projects at my college and assumed more responsibility for the upcoming year.
• I submitted a think piece for national publication that was accepted.
• I landed a paid speaking slot at a conference outside of my industry.
• I was offered a project consulting gig.

This isn’t a flex list. I’m showing how effort compounds when you apply a little direction.

Much of what I do now has purpose and is part of a bigger picture. It’s not busy-work or an endless series of unrelated projects.

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If I Can Do It, So Can You

If you want next year to feel different, if you’re anxious for something more than flatline growth, don’t wait for an invitation. Approach the year with purpose.

Here’s Jeff’s Playbook for Intentionality. Feel free to steal some of it, all of it, or . even better . create your own.

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Step 1. SEE IT

Get honest fast

Start with clarity, not reinvention.

• Write down three things that frustrated you last year. Those are signals, not annoyances.
  (This can help you zero in on the top 3)
• Identify one pattern you keep explaining instead of fixing.
• Create one place where ideas, books, notes, and inspiration go. Become a vessel, not a closed loop.

Rule: If you can’t clearly see opportunities, you can’t act on them deliberately.

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Step 2. SHIFT IT

Go on record

Direction changes speed when it’s visible.

• Set one personal goal and one work goal that actually matter.
  (Use my SMART Goal GPT)
• Share them with someone who has standing in your world. Your boss. Your team.
• Pick one process that’s broken and fix it closer to the source.
• Own your work. Don’t just complete it, improve it. That effort will pay off forever.

Rule: Progress with purpose is rocket fuel.

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Step 3. SUSTAIN IT

Protect what works

Good intentions die when things get busy unless you defend them.

• Put important things into systems, not memory.
• Turn one recurring fix into a repeatable process.
• Stop doing one thing so your impactful work has room to breathe.
  (Here’s how to kick the crap to the curb)

Rule: If it disappears when things get busy, it was never sustainable.

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Pro tip: Don’t go it alone

Slow growth is the default. Screw the default.

• Follow others who do the kind of work you want to do, then reach out.
• Enlist one person to join you. Accountability is your failsafe.
• Share what you learn. Pay it forward.

Rule: If you don’t seek help, you choose the slow path.

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The stuff I do now leads to other stuff. I look for how things fit together so I can scaffold ideas into words, words into projects, projects into processes, and processes into systems.

I’m building something that’s mine.

See it clearly.
Shift it deliberately.
Sustain what works.
Repeat.

Now go build something that’s yours.