Lessons Learned in 2025

2025 was an interesting, but great, year! It marked the start of my 10th year of business! As I put a lot of time and effort into growing this Academy alongside maintaining my busy freelancing calendar, I recognized some important areas to focus on in 2026. Since many of you may have your own business or perhaps are considering starting one some day, I thought I would share these lessons and give you a little insight on how I'm planning to implement these lessons into my work.

1. Relying on recall is a fool’s errand.

This year, I really experienced the importance of documenting decisions, important notes, and other valuable information in real time AND in a format that is searchable.

The more you document in an organized and searchable format the better. You will NEVER remember all of the things you think you will remember.

I’ve always been pretty good about jotting down important notes, but in shorthand or insufficient detail to be helpful down the road, in separate files across computers (depending on the client), or throughout multiple minor versions of the same document. This felt organized in the past, but with the number of different clients and different projects that I had this year, this method of note taking is no longer sufficient.

I worked on a big project this year that was very nuanced in how we described data across different endpoints. I attempted to document why decisions were made within comment bubbles in the files themselves. These comments would be saved in some minor version (v0.71, perhaps?) and eventually get deleted. Trying to go back and find rationale for a decision became impossible. I’m also a bit old-school in that I like taking notes on paper. Unfortunately, finding paper notes is also quite the challenge! In 2026, I’m going to try out OneNote for documenting decisions and important notes/action items from meetings. I’ll still have to do this on multiple computers (the client’s computer if I use a provided company laptop, which is surprisingly common in this field!) but will at least use the same program and format for note taking across clients/projects. Everything will be dated and searchable. I plan to make my notes as detailed as possible and to include specific key words to make information easier to find through a simple search.

I also want to better track my time spent on a project-by-project basis. I have an Excel system for tracking my billable time for clients that I’ve used for years, but it doesn’t delineate by project. I just use comment bubbles or “Notes” to indicate what project(s) I worked on each day. Every month when I create invoices, I have to dig through all the comments/notes to indicate how many hours I spent on each project in order to properly invoice my clients. Every month at invoicing, I moan the same old "There has to be a better way!" There was, I just hadn't created it yet. Last week, I created a more advanced Excel spreadsheet to use in 2026 that has the framework built out to log time by project in a format that can have projects easily added or removed as needed. I expect this to save me some time (and frustration) each month in invoicing. I may also explore other time tracking options to see if they integrate with QuickBooks (the accounting/invoicing software I use).

2. Time blocking and batching work requires non-stop discipline.

I have been a big fan of batching my work and avoiding task switching for a long time, yet I find it hard to stay disciplined in this area. Perhaps it’s the nature of the work and my attempts at trying to always be available for my clients, but I need to be more disciplined in this area. Working on one or two big projects per day, only checking emails during certain times, etc. Some of this will require managing expectations with clients. I am hoping that better planning (see #4) will help me determine what is most urgent each week/day and help me better block and batch my time to work on these things (and temporarily put other things on the side).

3. Administrative tasks and personal/professional growth should be planned with intention.

It’s so easy to put off the administrative tasks or things related to personal/professional growth that may not feel urgent for “when things die down a bit”. Spoiler alert – things rarely die down. My main website has been down for 6 months. I can probably make a phone call to my domain provider and have it up and running in 15 minutes, but I just haven’t made the time. In 2026, I am planning to set aside recurring time slots for administrative tasks, pencil in some goals (with action plans/timelines!) for personal/professional growth, and block time for working ON my business and not just IN my business.

4. Long-term project planning and tracking is key for work/life balance.

While I know this will never be perfect in regulatory medical writing (scope and timelines change constantly), the more visibility I have, the better I can plan my time. I know this. Yet, I still haven’t implemented any systems to help me do this less manually. Enter Smartsheet. I’ve had a Smartsheet account for awhile that I use for building basic timelines for individual projects, but I know it has WAY more functionality that I don’t take advantage of. I have just signed up for an online course on Smartsheet and am hoping to develop a system using Smartsheet for better long-term project planning and time management.

5. Negotiating (with yourself) cannot be an option.

You know the drill. You set your alarm clock for 5:00 am to get in your workout first thing. The alarm goes off. You start debating whether you really NEED to work out, whether you can fit it in later in the day. Maybe you could sleep an extra 15 minutes and just do a slightly shorter workout. These types of negotiations also arise during the workday. Maybe you can take a break and finish the project after lunch even though you promised yourself you would finish it first thing.

This bad influence version of myself is pretty convincing, and it’s often hard to ignore her. She's loud, and she acts like she has my back. But really, she's trying to derail me.

My intention for 2026 is to take these types of negotiations off the table completely. I will not entertain these negotiations, and the second they start, I will shut it down. I am going to honor my commitments to myself, even if it's the uncomfortable option.

6. Devoting time on hiring/training is required for effective delegation.

I have a small team now, so it’s time to step back where I can and let my team provide support. I also need to consider where I can/should hire more help. I need to develop company processes/standards, train team members, and build an aligned company culture. I feel like delegation sometimes feels like a dirty work (like I'm putting my work off on other people), but I need to remind myself that delegation is allowing others to do the tasks they are good at, while reserving my time to do work that I am best-suited for.

7. All work and no play is NOT the way to do business.

I worked too much in 2025. I can definitely blame some of this on shifting timelines and expanding project scopes, but I should have said “no” more often (it’s hard when you really enjoy working with ALL of your clients). I’ve already started penciling in more time for fun/relaxation in 2026. With some improved systems/processes and more delegation, I am planning to provide more value without working more hours.