So, the kids are off to school and I’m sat at my desk at 8:30 with a coffee in hand and a to-do list written. For me, it’s a bit of an odd calm-before-the-storm list as the second half of January is going to be insanely busy with student assignments to mark, an as yet unknown number of Government funding applications to assess and at least one major contract to bid for. So my plan is to get as many podcast episodes recorded and edited as possible, write this month’s Low Carbon Agenda – number 200! – and of course compile the 12½ Kick Ass Sustainability Ideas for 2025 for the eponymous webinar next week.

If you want to up your Sustainability game this year – and let’s face it, we’re all going to need to work much smarter and harder over the next 12 months given the unpredictability of the world at the minute – there are many ways I can help you from Net Zero Business Academy to out Net Zero Accelerator programme.

But here’s a very simple backcasting exercise that can help clarify your year ahead for you.

• List the three things you would really like to achieve this year.
• For each of them, define more carefully what success would look like.
• Choose an intermediate point – say the start of your summer holidays – and define what you would need to have achieved by then for each of your three objectives.
• Define the very first steps you would need to do to get these three balls rolling. Complete these actions TODAY.

The hardest bit of change is always the very first step. That’s why it is so critical to take those initial actions immediately. If that looks impossible, then go back and break them down into even smaller steps. But it is essential that you commit to action right away.

And if you need help, you know where to find me.