It’s been a pretty hectic seven days since I last popped into your inbox and as I write this I’m feeling slightly delicate after our work Christmas party yesterday.

We usually try to do something as a team that isn’t just sitting down for dinner, and this year we did the Traitors Experience which I would highly recommend if you’ve got a decent-sized group.

It was so good.

I was a Traitor, which I loved!!

I didn’t win, but I made it pretty far, which I’m choosing to be proud of… only to be voted out by my own husband.

Less said about that the better.

And as I murdered my own brother earlier in the game, I don’t really have a leg to stand on.

We then went on for dinner at Kettner’s in Soho, which was good food, lovely company (of course!)… but a very long one-hour wait between starters and mains.

I think they may have been slightly underprepared for the Christmas rush, but as we were in good spirits it didn’t dampen the evening too much but it was slightly frustrating!

Rather less frustrating…just a few hours after I emailed you on Thursday, we found out that our daughter had been voted Head Girl at her school (it’s a mixture of peers and teaching staff that vote).

I don’t talk about the kids all that much here, but those of you who’ve been around a while know they were the whole reason I set up this business in the first place, all those years ago.

She absolutely deserves it. It’s such a reflection of her hard work, her character (she’s so kind!), and the way she shows up.

We’re unbelievably proud, and it still doesn’t quite feel real. So yes, there were celebrations. A lot of them.

Then, almost immediately, we packed our bags again and headed off for a two-day mastermind and spent a couple of really lovely days at Coworth Park in Ascot with some of the most talented direct marketers and entrepreneurs I know.

We meet as a group four times a year, and it’s often in America, so having this one so close to home felt like a real treat.

No long-haul flights.

No jet lag.

Just a festive December car trip…

And if you ever get the chance to visit Coworth Park, do. It’s an absolute delight.

What I love about this group is the openness. These are people doing genuinely impressive things, but there’s no posturing.

Everyone is happy to share what’s working, what isn’t, and what they’ve learned the hard way. We also had a few new faces join us this time, which always brings fresh energy and perspective.

We covered a huge amount over the two days, and I’ll be sharing some of the more practical ideas with you over the coming weeks. I’ll also be testing plenty of them myself before I suggest anything to you, so you’ll always get my honest take.

But there was one conversation that really stayed with me, especially as we head towards the end of the year and reflection feels quite natural right now and it wasn’t about working harder or being more confident.

We talked about how the ability to make decisions quickly is one of the biggest differences between people who build successful businesses and those who stay stuck.

I’m sure they won’t mind me saying that every single person in that room has failed. Repeatedly.

That’s a given. Failure isn’t the issue.

The real difference is how long people sit in indecision.

The ones who move forward decide, try the thing, see what happens, and then adjust.

If it works, they keep going.

If it doesn’t, they move on without making it mean anything dramatic about themselves.

Not long after that conversation, I listened to an interview with James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, and he shared a simple way of thinking about decisions that I loved.

He said most decisions fall into one of three categories: hats, haircuts, or tattoos.

A hat decision is easy to reverse. Try it on. If you don’t like it, take it off.

A haircut decision is more annoying if it goes wrong. You might regret it for a bit, but it grows back. You’re usually better off having tried than spending months thinking about it.

A tattoo decision is much harder to undo.

And his point was this: very few decisions in life are actually tattoos.

Most are hats or haircuts.

The same is true in online business. Starting a project. Testing an idea. Running a small offer. Creating a simple course. Trying a different approach to marketing.

We inflate these decisions in our minds until they feel enormous and irreversible, when in reality they rarely are.

As long as you’re not doing something like quitting your job overnight without a plan, most things are simply experiments.

A shift in priorities for a while. A chance to see what happens.

So I’ll leave you with that thought as we head towards the end of the year.

Make the decision.

Try the thing.

Learn quickly.

Adjust.

Next week, I’ll share some of the planning conversations we had in the room, because I think you’ll find those especially useful right now too.

Right – I better get going to our zoom team meeting (expecting a fair few ‘sore’ heads)…Then we’ve also got some family days planned, and I’m fully leaning into the run-up to Christmas. I love it. I get very excited, wear far too many sparkly tops, and this year I get to enjoy it even more because my lovely brother is hosting Christmas.

Which feels like a gift in itself.