The Strategic Entrepreneur

258: The Year-End Review That Actually Feels Good (Your Hidden Wins Revealed)

• Cindy Gordon - Execution Coach | Reality Check Method • Season 4 • Episode 258

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The Year-End Review That Actually Feels Good (Your Hidden Wins Revealed)

Your year was better than you think. In this transformative episode, Cindy Gordon teaches the Gain Review Framework that reveals all the small wins you're dismissing - the ones actually driving your growth. Learn how consistency compounds, why boring discipline beats dramatic sprints, and how to build next year on what's already working.

In this episode, you'll discover:

  • Why traditional year-end reviews feel terrible (and what to do instead)
  • The 4-part Gain Review Framework that reveals hidden progress
  • How small wins compound into transformational results
  • Real examples of dismissed wins that drove 60% revenue growth
  • Why boring consistency beats sexy strategies
  • The marathon mindset that builds lasting businesses
  • How to identify your success patterns hiding in plain sight
  • The 10% amplification strategy for next year

Perfect for: Entrepreneurs who think they didn't achieve enough this year, anyone tired of gap-focused reviews, business owners ready to build on what works, and leaders who understand business is a marathon, not a sprint.

Key insight: "Those small wins you're dismissing? They're the foundation of everything you're building."

Join 1,500+ entrepreneurs celebrating small wins in Cindy's newsletter.

Resources mentioned:

  • The Gain Review Framework
  • Small Wins Inventory
  • Pattern Recognition Process
  • 10% Amplification Strategy

Stop measuring against fantasy. Start building on reality. Your year's hidden wins are waiting.

💌 Join 1,500+ entrepreneurs receiving weekly strategic insights and business clarity frameworks - sign up now! https://cindygordon.myflodesk.com/countmein

Connect with Cindy Gordon -

I wanna share something with you that might surprise you a little bit this year, one of my biggest business breakthroughs didn't come from landing a huge client or having a viral moment on Instagram. It came from sending one email every Thursday to my list, just one email every single Thursday. Not sexy, not revolutionary, but here's what happened. That consistency compounded those weekly emails built trust, created connection and generated revenue. The discipline to show up day after day, doing the little things. It builds momentum that might not look impressive from the outside, but it's building exactly the business that I want. Hi, I'm Cindy Gordon and you are listening to The Overwhelmed Entrepreneur. And today our talk is inspired by the gap in the GAIN philosophy. We are doing a year end review that actually feels good, not the one where you beat yourself up for missed goals, but the one that reveals all the hidden wins that were actually driving your growth, Right now, everyone's doing their year end reviews and most of them feel terrible. And you know why? Because they're comparing December 31st to the wild goals that they set on January 1st when they were high on New Year motivation and had no idea what the actual year would bring. They are measuring against fantasy and not reality. They're counting what didn't happen and not what did happen. They're grading their year completely wrong. Here's the thing about business growth. It's not a sprint. It is a marathon. And in marathons, the winner isn't who had the most impressive burst of speed. It's the one who maintained pace, who kept moving forward, who didn't stop. And this year I focused on consistency, even with the small stuff, and I watched it compound. It wasn't always Instagram worthy. Some weeks my big wins were literally that I just showed up. But those small wins, they're the hidden foundation of everything that grew this year. So let's flip the traditional Yearend review. Instead of starting with your goals and seeing how you measured up, we're gonna start with your reality and see how far you've come. I am gonna give you the framework, so grab some paper and a pen. You are gonna need to capture this. Alright, here we go. Part one, the baseline reality. Go back to January 1st of this year. Who were you then? What was your business like? Not your goals, but your actual situation, your revenue, your systems, your skills, your confidence level, and your network. I want you to write it all down. Step two. The small wins inventory. Now list every small win from this year, and I mean every small win. If you've done your weekly dashboards throughout the year, it's easy to flip back to those, but if not, here are some ideas. Maybe it's the first time you said no to a bad fit client, your first automated email. You set up your first boundary, a first price increase, even$5 counts. First time you delegated something. The first partnership conversation, the first piece of content that actually felt authentic. Part three, the compound effect map. Look at those small wins and trace their impact. That small price increase. How did it change your confidence? That boundary you set? What space did it create? Part four is the pattern recognition. What small wins keep showing up? What did you do consistently? That seemed minor yet happened repeatedly? These patterns are your success formula. Hiding in plain sight, so sometimes these small wins don't feel significant. So let me share some of my personal small wins. So I sent a Thursday email every Thursday, so 52 emails. I did 11 Z's coffee chat. Every week I posted at least three times on social media. I had one CEO dashboard review every Friday, so 52 of those and I read one business book monthly. The individual impact, probably minimal, but the compound impact. Transformational. Those Thursday emails built an engaged list of over 1500 other entrepreneurs. Those 11 Zs coffee chats created a powerful network. Those social media posts help to attract ideal clients and those weekly CEO dashboard reviews caught problems before they exploded. And these books, they upgraded my thinking on a monthly basis. The discipline to show up day after day, doing the little things. It's not sexy, but it's sustainable. It's not sprint worthy, but it's marathon winning. When you do this gain review, you start seeing patterns that reveal your natural success formula. Here's what to look for, energy patterns. When did small wins Cluster. Morning habits. Friday completions, post coffee productivity. These reveal your optimal working conditions. Then you have type patterns. What kind of small wins came the easiest? Was it systems, confidence connections, content sales. This reveals your natural strengths. Then you have resistance patterns. What small wins required the most discipline? These often indicate your biggest growth edges and highest impact areas. Then you have joy patterns. Which small wins felt good even though they were small. These point to sustainable growth strategies. In my personal review, I noticed that my biggest gains came from boring consistency in three areas, communication, my weekly emails connection, my monthly gatherings of 11 Zs, and clarity. My weekly reviews, not revolutionary, but it provides revolutionary results. So let's talk about turning those small wins into strategic data for next year. This isn't a feelgood celebration, it's intelligence gathering for each category of small wins, I want you to ask yourself, what worked about this? What made it sustainable? How could I amplify it by 10%? And what would happen if I did more of this? Here's the key insight. If it worked, do more of it. Don't abandon what's working for shiny new strategies. Double down on your proven small wins. My Thursday email that worked, I added a Monday email, my monthly coffee chats that worked. I'm adding a Mastermind in 2026 weekly reviews that worked. I'm adding daily five minute check-ins with myself. Not revolutionary changes, just 10% more of what already works. And before we can fully talk about next year, let's actually celebrate this year because here's what your small wins reveal. You're more disciplined than you think. Every small win required you to show up. You're more courageous than you realize every first, no matter how small required bravery, you are more strategic than you know those patterns. That's your intuition guiding you. You are more successful than you see those compound effects. They're already working. I want you to write this down. I am someone who, and then you're gonna complete the sentence based upon your small wins. Here's some examples. I am someone who shows up consistently. I am someone who takes imperfect action. I am someone who builds incrementally. I am someone who plays the long game. This identity built from small wins is worth more than any single big achievement. Now here's why I want you to use this review to plan for next year, not from scratch, but from momentum. Step one, identify your top five small win patterns. What did you do repeatedly that worked? Step two, plan to do 10 to 20% more of each, not doubling, not a revolutionary change, just slightly more. Step three. Remove what didn't show up in your wins. If it's not in your gain review, it probably wasn't working unless you have data to show otherwise. Step four, schedule the small wins. Put them in your calendar as non-negotiable, CEO activities. Step five, track them weekly. This is important. What gets measured gets amplified. This is building from evidence and not hope from reality and not fantasy this gain review teaches us that business is a marathon and not a sprint. Those small wins that you are dismissing, they're actually your training miles. That consistency you think is boring. It's your PACE strategy. Those tiny improvements, they're shaving seconds that become minutes, that become hours ahead of where you actually started. You didn't win marathons with dramatic sprints, you win with sustainable pace, consistent fueling and discipline to keep moving even when it's not dramatic. Your year is filled with training miles, and unlike the people who sprinted and burned out, you are still running. You are stronger, you are steadier, and you are building a business that lasts, your year was better than you think. Those small wins you are dismissing. They are the foundation of everything that you're building, the consistency that you maintained. It's compounding. Even when you can't see it this week, do your gain review and list every small win. See the patterns, celebrate the consistency, and then build next year based upon what's already working. If you want support in recognizing and amplifying your gains, join over 1500 other entrepreneurs and by weekly email community where we celebrate small wins and share strategic business strategies. Link in the show notes. And I wanna leave you with this, just a reminder that your small wins matter. Your consistency counts, and your marathon pace is absolutely perfect. And remember, friend, you've got this.

Speaker:

Thanks for spending these few minutes with me today. Remember, overwhelm isn't permanent. It's simply your brain's way of saying pause and take a little reality check. If you got value in today's episode, please share it with another entrepreneur who needs that reminder. If you're loving the show, I'd be so grateful if you could leave me a quick review. It helps other overwhelmed entrepreneurs find us. Make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss your weekly dose of clarity. For more resources and to connect with me, visit exclusively. Send. d.com. Until next time, remember, you've got this.