If you’ve read any of my other articles, you know I’m a mindset convert. I even dabble in the woo-woo here and there (apparently, people can change). But I’ve never been a big New Year’s resolution person, mainly because they rarely feel like real, tangible goals. They tend to sound more like, “This is who I’d like to be, and I hope my wish comes true.” They’re often aspirational, overly ambitious, and forgotten by February.
In the travel industry, resolutions are usually some version of “more.” More clients. More content. More destinations. More growth. More time spent growing my business.
But if you really look at the advisors finishing 2025 strong, the common thread isn’t “more.” The ones who are thriving aren’t focused on volume, but on clarity. They’re making more strategic decisions with their time and working smarter, not harder.
So as we prepare to ring in the new year, let’s skip the empty promises. Instead of resolutions you’ll feel guilty about abandoning, here are a few practical, attainable ones worth keeping as you head into 2026.
"This year, I will identify who is not my ideal client and practice saying no."
One of the most powerful shifts an advisor can make isn’t just getting clear about who they don’t serve, but actually putting that clarity to use.
Not every inquiry deserves a yes. Not every potential client is aligned. And not every trip is worth the time and energy it requires. This isn’t about exclusivity for the sake of it. It’s about compatibility.
When you stop trying to be the right advisor for everyone, your messaging sharpens, your sales conversations get easier, and the clients who are a good fit recognize it faster. And while the “no” is often the hardest part, it gets easier when you realize you’re no longer wasting energy on people who aren’t worth your time or resources.
“This year, I will protect my most productive hours.”
Most travel entrepreneurs don’t struggle with work ethic. They struggle with being strategic about where their best energy goes.
High-value work gets squeezed between reactive tasks, inbox management, and other people’s priorities. Over time, that adds up to feeling busy without feeling effective.
One of my personal “aha” moments this past year came from the wise and talented Kristin Matthews, GTN’s VP of Professional Development. I’d heard the expression “eat the frog” plenty of times and always understood it to mean doing the hardest thing first to get it over with. But during a GTN Masterclasses, Kristin explained it to the advisors in a way that finally clicked for me.
It’s not about doing the hard thing first. It’s about understanding when you’re most productive and not wasting that time window on easier tasks.
I took that reframe straight home. Now my husband and I are very intentional about identifying the boring but important tasks that need to get done during our “frog time” on the weekends, before we succumb to our laziness and settle in on the couch.
In 2026, figure out your own frog time and use it wisely.
“This year, I will stop trying so hard to be ‘easy to work with.’”
“Easy to work with” feels like an obvious expectation for anyone providing a service. It sounds positive, but it often comes with an unspoken cost.
For many advisors, being easy to work with has turned into being endlessly flexible and always available. They feel responsible for bending processes, timelines, and boundaries to accommodate every request. Over time, that version of “easy” leads to burnout, blurred expectations, and resentment.
The advisors who create the best client experiences aren’t the most accommodating. They’re the clearest. Ease doesn’t come from saying yes to everything. It comes from having a well-defined process and confidently guiding clients through it.
Clients feel taken care of when they know what to expect, when decisions are framed for them, and when boundaries are communicated calmly and consistently. In 2026, consider shifting your goal from being easy to being professional. Hold firm on planning timelines, set realistic response expectations, and clearly define what falls outside your scope.
Whether or not you believe in New Year’s resolutions, I hope this gives you something to think about as we head into the final weeks of 2025. And from all of us here at Gifted Travel Network, we wish you a wonderful holiday season! We’ll see you in 2026!
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