By the end of January, you may be feeling one of two things. Either:

1. over-planned and slightly boxed in, or
2. under-planned and quietly uneasy

Neither is ideal.

What most businesses need at this point isn’t more detail; it’s a clear direction that can survive pressure.

Why Heavy Plans Don’t Last

Detailed plans feel reassuring when you start back at work in January.  However, detail assumes a level of stability.

As the year unfolds:

• priorities shift
• capacity fluctuates
• opportunities appear unexpectedly
• energy rises and falls

Plans that rely on everything going as expected tend to collapse first.

What tends to last is something much lighter.

The CFO View: Direction Beats Detail

The key is to rely on decision anchors.  A set of simple reference points that help answer questions like:

1. Is this worth the cash?
2. Does this fit our capacity?
3. Are we tolerating something we shouldn’t?

This sense of direction doesn’t remove choice.  However, it does reduce friction.

A One-Page Year

At this stage, a year only needs three things to be useful:

1. Three Clear Priorities

Not goals; the priorities that you will divert all attention and energy to and that will justify attention and resources.

2. Three Constraints

These are the limits that you’ve decided to respect:

• cash buffers
• capacity caps
• energy boundaries

These don’t restrict your ambition; they simply keep it real.

3. Three Non-Negotiables

These are the things that you have now decided that you’re no longer willing to tolerate:

• underpriced work
• unclear scope
• avoidable chaos

Breaking everything down to these three simple areas allows you to gain clarity and protect it thereafter.

Why Does This Work Under Pressure?

As you get busy, and we all know it will, or already are, this kind of map does three things:

• it speeds up decisions
• it prevents drift
• it gives you permission to say no earlier

Instead of repurposing the year every month with changing priorities, you will return to a few clear lines you’ve already drawn for the annual horizon.

Warren Buffett has often said that Berkshire Hathaway’s success comes from doing very few things exceptionally well, and ignoring almost everything else. Each year, he operates with a short list of priorities, clear capital constraints, and an explicit refusal to chase opportunities that don’t meet those criteria; even when they’re fashionable or profitable in the short term. The goal isn’t maximum activity; it’s consistency of decision-making. That discipline means he rarely has to make new decisions under pressure. The simplicity isn’t accidental though; it’s what allows the strategy to hold up over decades, not just quarters.

A founder-led services business I worked with last year entered the start of 2025 with unpredictable revenues, and constant pressure. What they needed then wasn’t a bigger plan; they needed clarity to make fewer decisions and stop priorities competing with each  other. We worked together and mapped the year onto a single page: three priorities, clear cash boundaries, and a short list of things they would no longer tolerate. What changed then was their behaviour, with no dilution in their ambition. By mid-year, decisions were being made faster, project scope creep reduced, and my client felt that the business felt calmer to run, even during busy periods.

A Quiet but Important Shift

Do you notice what this approach doesn’t do, though?

• It doesn’t demand more effort.
• It doesn’t rely on willpower.
• It doesn’t assume perfect conditions.
• It assumes you’ll be human.

And it plans accordingly.  Some business owners reach this point and realise something else: “I know what matters — but I don’t trust myself to hold the line once the pressure returns.”

By applying this thinking, not just understanding it, you’ll have a valuable approach to trust your instincts and hold yourself accountable.

How We Can Help You Apply This

A Strategy Mapping Session is a focused working session designed to turn this way of thinking into a clear, one-page CFO view of the year.

It gives you space to pressure-test your priorities and constraints, and to leave with decisions you’re unlikely to quietly renegotiate once the year gets busy.

Most people won’t need this. 

But if you think you might benefit from having someone help you hold the line and apply this properly, you’re welcome to reach out and have a conversation.

Where February Goes Next

January has been all about gaining direction.  February will turn to cash, specifically, how money actually moves through the business week by week, and why that matters more than most people realise.

For now, resist the urge to refine. Commit lightly. Decide clearly.

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” Steve Jobs