Don’t wait until the new year to review your 2025 successes and opportunities and plan for your growth in 2026. Now is the perfect time to consider what you have accomplished over the last 12 months, where you see room for improvement and where you should focus your efforts in the coming year.
These end-of-year planning tips can help you make the most of the rest of 2025 and create your plan for success in 2026.
1. Evaluate Your Current Skills
Before you jump into a new year, think about how you’ve grown professionally in the past year. It’s important to keep learning and to stay on top of the latest trends in your industry. Note the ways you were successful throughout the year, so you know what to keep doing moving forward.
It can help to review your 2025 calendar and journal or planner and see where you’ve focused on your growth. Have you joined webinars? Taken online or in-person classes? Earned certifications?
Take a look back at the books you’ve read, too. A lot of personal growth comes from reading. If you’re not tracking your reading, consider starting that habit for 2026.
At Farm Bureau, our agents are always tackling new challenges and applying new skills as the industry changes. Here are a few ways our agents stay up to date on the insurance industry’s best practices:
- Sign up for industry newsletters
- Join industry groups on LinkedIn to connect with other professionals and learn the latest news
- Attend networking events
- Commit to building new skills
Adopting some of these practices could help you stay current on industry trends and practices, too.
2. Think About Your Professional Development Goals
After evaluating your successes, identify the areas in which you didn’t meet your goals. Try to pinpoint the cause:
- Were you unproductive?
- Did you lack certain skills or expertise?
- Did you have a poor work-life balance?
While you don’t want to dwell on the year’s low points, you can learn a lot from examining where and why you struggled.
If you feel you often weren’t the most productive, test out some new strategies to make the most of your work hours. Pick up a new daily planner to stay organized or create a new morning routine.
Review the times of the day and week when your energy is higher and lower — and match your activities to them. For example, you might want to tackle the work that requires focus and concentration in the mornings when you’re fresh and use the after-lunch slump to respond to routine emails.
If more knowledge or experience would help you meet your goals, add education and training to your 2026 to-do list.
If your work-life balance is off-kilter, write down the ways you think it can improve. That could mean adopting a more flexible schedule or setting a rule that you won’t check your work email after dinner. What aspects are in your control? Talk to your manager about the possibility of creating a schedule that works for you.
3. Set Goals for Next Year
Do you want to network more? Have you always wanted to learn how to be a better public speaker? Now is the perfect time to choose a few professional skills to pursue in 2026.
By setting goals, you can hold yourself accountable and not let anything on your list become forgotten. Try to include both business objectives and professional improvements in your list of goals.
Once you determine your goals, plan how you’ll reach them. For example, add networking events to your calendar, plan to talk to three new people every time you’re at a public event or sign up for Toastmasters or another public speaking organization.
Keep yourself motivated with smaller goals and milestones that will get you to the finish line — think quarterly, monthly or even weekly. You’ll be able to track your progress throughout the year and prioritize what needs to be completed first, boosting your chance of success.
4. Meet With Your Supervisor and Mentor
If you don’t already have an end-of-the-year meeting set up, schedule one with your manager. Sitting down with your supervisor can help you understand where they feel you excelled throughout the year and how you can improve moving forward.
Come to this meeting ready to share your goals, aspirations and concerns. Be confident in sharing your accomplishments from 2025 and honest about the areas where you feel you could improve.
Are you looking to take on more responsibility? Are you struggling with marketing? Don’t be afraid to ask for support. This conversation can help you take an important step, with your manager along your side providing feedback on your goals and dreams.
This is also a good time to meet with your mentor to discuss your 2026 goals and how to achieve them. Your mentor likely has good ideas to share about aligning your goals with your growth and breaking down your goals into manageable steps.
5. Review Your Professional Path
If you’re considering a change for 2026, start by outlining what’s important to you in a job and what you want to get out of it. Do your passions and your job responsibilities align? Do you need a certain level of professional success to provide for yourself and your family? Once you’ve decided what you’re looking for, research the skills and characteristics necessary for these roles.
Consider Becoming an Insurance Agent at Farm Bureau
If you are a self-starter with a passion for helping others, becoming a Farm Bureau insurance agent could be right for you. At Farm Bureau, our Developing Agent Program helps you assess whether the insurance industry is where you belong.
The new year could bring you a new opportunity. Learn how a future at Farm Bureau might fit into your plans.