October is an interesting time of year. One the one hand, I and all others who observe the Jewish calendar are coming off several weeks of celebrating the New Year. It is a time of year that we spend a lot of time asking for forgiveness and praying for everything we want the coming year to be. A time of year that we work on strengthening our connections with God, our families, friends. It is a time of year that brings along the anxiety of missing A LOT of workdays and explaining that to people who may not be familiar with these holidays, and then getting caught up on everything we missed when it is over.
But on the flip side, we are now in Q4, about the wrap up the year. Thanksgiving is about one month away, which means that the winter holidays are upon us right after that, and before you know it we’ll be accidentally writing 2025 instead of the actual year that is 2026.
That is why October is the MOST IMPORTANT month to start planning for next year, because before you know it, the year will be over.
With that, allow me to share…
Adam Goldschmiedt’s Top 10 Things You MUST Do BEFORE it Becomes 2026 ⏳🎉✨
1. Reflect on 2025: Hopefully you have Clarity Breaks already built into your weekly schedule. Make sure to dedicate at least 1 hour in the weeks ahead to unpack all of the great AND not so great things that happened in the last year. Write down your biggest wins, most unexpected result, and at least 3 things that could have gone better.
2. Create a Budget for 2026: If you don’t know what a budget is or how to create one, here is a great article/video from David Ramsey – https://www.ramseysolutions.com/business/create-a-business-budget
3. Run a S.W.O.T. Analysis on your Business: See my video below for more on that one.
4. Clarify the Big Picture: In order to set effective goals for the coming year, you need to have a bigger picture in mind. Make sure you are clear and confident on your long-term vision (10 Year Target, 3 Year Picture), to make sure that the goals you set for this year are aligned and getting you where you ultimately want to be.
5. Create S.M.A.R.T. Goals for the Year: Now that you know your big picture, make sure you clearly define the things you MUST do this year to keep that vision on track.
6. Evaluate your Team: Hopefully you are using your People Analyzer on a regular basis and your team is filled with the Right People in the Right Seats, but now that we know what our goals for the coming year are, you MUST ask yourself if those people will REMAIN that way. As our business changes, sometimes the people who got us where we are may NOT be the ones who can get us where we need to go, so we need to be real with ourselves about where we need to make additions and adjustments.
7. Calendarize the Year: Before the year starts, block off as many key dates on your calendar as possible, including your Quarterly and Annual Planning meetings, Trade Shows/Conferences, holidays, vacations, etc.
8. Make at least 1 Personal Commitment: This one is even more impactful if you have an accountability partner and/or coach who can help, but make a firm commitment to either start or stop doing something this year that will make you a better person for your family, friends, clients, and coworkers.
9. READ at least 1 Book: I know I already told you to take on 1 personal commitment, but here is another. Harry Truman hit the nail on the head when he said that “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Audiobooks are a wonderful tool; one of the main benefits is that you can listen while you are doing other things like working out, driving, etc. But they often blend into the background of whatever else we are doing. Go old school. Pick up a book, close your door, and treat yourself to some focused reading time before the end of the year and you’ll start to develop a really good habit for next year.
10. Celebrate your Success: If you have not already done so, schedule your holiday party because you and your team deserve to enjoy everything you accomplished this past year!
📚 Book of the Month
“Topgrading” by Bradford D. Smart Ph.D.
I read this one a long time ago but recently did a re-read as I was preparing to give a talk on effective interviewing strategies, and I’m really glad I did. To me there are 2 very important themes in this book that are essential to making sure you are consistently hiring the Right People in the Right Seats.
- TORC, which stands for Threat Of Reference Check. The concept here is that anyone can fudge a resume and usually when you ask for references, the candidate can pick whoever they want and who likely will only tell you the things they want you to hear. Topgrading flips this process on it’s head and puts the hiring manager in control. From the onset of the application process, you are telling the candidate that prior to making any hiring decisions, they are required to introduce you directly to their previous 2 employers. While obviously being understanding to not compromise their current work situation, the right candidate for any role should have left their previous position on good terms and should have nothing to hide by making this connection. If they do have something to hide, then usually those candidates will opt-out before you waste too much more time on them. When you do have that reference call, you are able to have a deeper conversation around that candidates abilities and character, giving you a much better gauge on how they fit your team culturally and with their skills.
- Competency Questions. In the Topgrading process, it is critical to determine the “competencies” that a candidate must have in order to be a fit for the position. For example, if you are hiring into a Project Management role, you may want to ask questions that will help you understand how ORGANIZED the candidate is, how they are able to focus on important DETAILS in the project, how they drive ACCOUNTABILITY with their project teams, how they are able to MANAGE RELATIONSHIPS with your key customers and employees, etc. In addition to the job specific (Right Seat) competency questions, making sure that you can ask good experience-based questions that put a candidate in position to show you how they would handle various situations that could apply to your business and to make sure they align with your company’s CORE VALUES (Right People) will help make sure you are only hiring the people who will fit your organization best.
Check it out!
🌟 More Good Stuff
- One of the most inspirational entrepreneurs in my life is my childhood friend and prank call partner, Avi Muchnick. 23 years after launching Worth1000, a very viral photoshop contest platform; and 19 years after building Aviary’s suite of browser-based creative tools that had over 125 million installs; he just released Artest, the love-child of both concepts, with image generation tools built right into the art contest experience. Even cooler, he built it with his 19 year old son Ethan! You can read more about Artest in Avi’s post on IndieHackers: https://lnkd.in/eir9dSdX and you can get the app links at https://artest.com. Download it today!
- Our Long Island ENRG Chapter is up and running! If you are a business owner and are looking for an amazing local peer group, please check out the ENRG website and register today! Our next meeting is on Wednesday, November 12. Questions? PLEASE let me know and we will schedule a call.
- Click here for more information and to register for the 2026 EOS Conference in Kansas City, MO. If you are interested in attending and would like a discount code, please let me know.
💡 Suggestion Box
Got an idea for an upcoming newsletter? Is there a topic you want to learn more about? PLEASE drop us a line and let us know adam.goldschmiedt@eosworldwide.com