What to Do Right Now So January Doesn't Destroy You

I want to talk about something that happens to me every single year. And I'm guessing it's happened to you, too. You're sitting here in mid December and you're thinking, you know what? Everyone's away over the holidays, so I am going to use these next couple of weeks to get ahead. January is going to be different. I am going to start strong. Then January 2nd rolls around and you're exactly where you were on December 20th, except that head start that you'd hoped for is just a pipe dream, and the pressure starts piling on quick as well as you know, the regrets about not doing more when you had the chance. So this year, let's not repeat that same old story. It doesn't have to be that way. And it's not because you need to work harder. It's because you need to work smarter. And just for about two days out of that whole time, that's it. So buckle up. I'll be right back. And explain exactly what I mean. Hello, Cam Famfam, and welcome to the Cam Club Podcast, a show where we talk about the daily grind of key account management and how to handle it. I'm your favorite game coach, Warwick Brown, and this is going to be a quick episode because I know you're busy. The festive season is in full force, and honestly, we're all in that weird December space where nobody's really working, but, you know, nobody's really resting either. Now, if you don't have vacation time over the holidays, you're working, supposedly, but it's slow. And it's so hard to do anything when there's hardly anything to do. Like that expression says, you want something done, give it to a busy person. When that to do list starts shrinking and neither your boss or your clients are chasing you for anything, it can be really hard to get motivated. You know, all you're barely doing is checking email. You're wiggling your mouse so your status stays green on slack. You're trying to stay on top of things, but really you're not doing much at all. And you're not on vacation, so it's not like you can be fully present with your family. You know, your brain still has to be at work, or at least part of it. So what are you actually accomplishing? A bit like New Year's resolutions. When I'm working over the holidays, I make a bunch of resolutions about what I'm going to accomplish in that quiet period, and I never do any of them. So let me help you get set up for success. In January and start the year strong with a minimal amount of effort. It's going to take one day, maybe maybe two days of focused, intentional work. No distractions like really work. Then you can stop, then you can rest, then you can do what needs to be done to keep the ship afloat. But you don't have to push yourself. It's about being smarter and about when you do it right, it's not actually more work. Right. There are three things I want you to focus on, and I'm going to walk you through each one. They're straightforward. They don't even take a huge amount of brain power, which, you know, let's face it, by the end of the year, I haven't got a lot left. So, number one, know your renewal risks. The first thing you're going to do is spend about 90 minutes identifying which accounts are actually at risk in the first half of the year. Q1. Q2, not guessing, not hoping, knowing. Here's why this matters. January moves fast. The account manager who knows their risks on January 2nd are already having conversations. As soon as people come back, they're already getting these things in play. The ones you figure out in February are already behind. So block 90 minutes in your calendar. Pull up your CRM right now. Do it over coffee tomorrow morning, do it over a glass of wine this evening, whenever. Look at your top accounts. Depending on how many you have, you might want to look at all of them. You might want to look at a portion of them. You know, I'll leave it up to you to decide, but it should be fairly easy to run a report for each one. You want to ask yourself, is this account at risk? There is some clear risk, which would be a contract expiring where you know you're going to have to submit a new proposal or, you know, service risk, because they've complained a lot and they've kind of threatened that if you don't turn things around, they might look elsewhere. So those are some obvious ones. But think about some signals. Think about the lead measures, the things that will potentially lead to risk. So it could be things like if a main contact has left, or maybe they've gone quiet. You know, you haven't heard from them for a while. Maybe the communication cadence has changed. Maybe you've seen lower transactions and you're thinking, that's odd. I should probably look into that. Maybe they've got budget cuts. Maybe there's other things going on, weak relationships in general. You know, you've got all your eggs in the primary contact basket. So Think about what are some lead, some risk signals. That's what I want you to think about. Not just the obvious ones. Commercial, you know, price sensitivity, or complaining about, you know, your products and services, or contract up. Capture those two, but go another level deeper. Because you want to intercept risk, not just deal with risk once it rears its ugly head. So by the time you're done, it's going to blow your mind because already you're going to start the year ahead. You know exactly where to focus because the clients that are potentially going to defect are the ones that should be your top priority. So already you've got a. You can start to formulate a bit of a game plan, even if it's not a formal one. Your head's in the right space and that is going to put you ahead of everybody else in your team. Because most account managers don't know this until something goes wrong. But don't prepare. They don't focus on the prevention, they only focus on the Cure. Right? Number two, map your relationships, your top five accounts, your top 10 accounts, or your accounts, whatever number you think is appropriate. You want to know who exactly matters and how strong your relationships are. Not the org charts the real version. So let's say, for example, you pick your top five accounts. For each one, list the key people, the decision maker, the user, the champion, the skeptic, any new people that you haven't met yet, but you know you should. And then ask yourself, how strong is my relationship with these people? But be honest, right? Not the, oh, I met them once. Because an introduction is not a relationship. Do they know you? Do you know them? Do they trust you? Would they take your call or at least, you know, reply if you had left a voicemail, you know, call you back, turn up to a meeting, that sort of stuff, and then think about who is the weak link. You know, not only just you can have a strong relationship with somebody that you know is frosty. We're not looking at necessarily making everybody a champion, but you just want to, it will stand out. Like, when I've made this list, instantly I thought, okay, I can see, I've really not spent any time with this person or I've been avoiding them, or my bad, I should be doing more to build a relationship with this person or get introduced. So that's it. It's a simple way to just very quickly do a temperature check on your relationships and, and you have your contact plan for the new year. Because out of that list, anybody that looks like a weak link or somebody you Know you've dropped the ball on. That's your priority to reach out to after the holidays are over. Everyone's back in full swing in the new year. And the third thing that you're going to do is some actual professional reflection about how you work. Not for your manager, for you. Because January is coming and you get to decide who you're going to be next year. So think about 2025. What actually went well. Not the big wins, necessarily, but the way you work, the habits that served you. Maybe you're really good at staying calm when things get chaotic. Maybe you're good at following up. Maybe you're good at listening. Before you jump in, write down what actually works about how you operate and then flip it. What didn't go well. And I'm not talking about the accounts you lost. I'm talking about how you showed up. Maybe you spent too much time in your own lane and not enough time understanding what the product actually does. Maybe you have a habit of jumping into conversations that aren't yours to jump into. Guilty as charged. That is my modus operandi. It's taken a lot of years to bite my tongue and learn to stay out of stuff that's not my business. Maybe treat your boss like a problem to manage instead of a person to actually work with. You know, if you listen to the podcast for a while, you know, I always say, treat your boss like your number one client. Maybe you're so focused on keeping your accounts happy that you spend not enough time with the delivery team, you know, or you need to repair or build a relationship with them instead of wielding demands every time you want something done for a customer. So be honest. What's the thing, you know, you do that doesn't serve you? Conversation between you and the voices in your head. Right. Nobody else needs to know. But that, again, is a really solid way to begin 2026 strong. And build the habit you want to start. And lose the habits that you're going to shed in 2026. And then you can narrow it down to one, you know, what's one new habit I want to start? Keep it simple. Really simple. Not I'm going to be more strategic or, you know, stuff like that. Like, what does that even mean? But I'm going to make it more like I'm going to spend 30 minutes a week with the product team understanding what we're building. Or I'm going to stop jumping into conversations that aren't mine. Or I'm going to treat my boss like my number one client and Actually, keep them informed. Now, look, if you're, if you're more ambitious, go for it. But I tell you, in the past, I've said to myself over the holidays, I'm going to redo my CV or I'm going to review the year and write my performance review or do all that stuff. It never happens. This is so much simpler. It's doable, right? And you're not trying to start January as a different person. You want to start January with one clear thing you're going to do differently and that actually sticks. And then guess what? Once you've done this work, you're actually done. You've done some strategic work, thinking about risk relationships, client risk, client relationships, and also thinking about your professional development. Case closed. Then you can do the bare minimum, check your emails, you know, read stuff, whatever you want to do, you know, take it easy, right? You've earned it, believe me. Because often when I took this, when I sort of put the brakes on over Christmas, I was like, guilty. But then I thought, you know what? I don't think I've worked a standard 40 hour week all year. So a little me time on the company's dime, I'm all for it. So there you have it, my friends. Dedicate 90 minutes to each of those three things and you're done. Before I go, I want to say thank you. Thank you for being here this year, for listening, for letting me be part of your thinking. 2026 is going to be different for you, for me, for all of us. I can feel it. And I've got some really great things planned for the podcast. New conversations, new ideas, new ways to think about your work and your life. And I cannot wait to share it with you. And just a final note for me about Christmas, I, you know, I'm single. I've been single for a long time. I live in London, all my family are back in Australia. I have friends, sure, But Christmas is always a bit of a poison chalice for me. Some years it's fantastic. Some years it's, you know, a disappointment. Some years it's just Christmas, you know? And I've learned over the years it doesn't have to look a certain way, right? It doesn't have to be crowded or loud. It can be a full day to yourself. It can be five minutes of quiet at the end of a busy day. It can be you with a cup of coffee and a song. So I thought I'd turn my hand to a little songwriting and wrote a song which I brought to life with Suno which is an AI music app. Fantastic. If you want to go play around with it, I'll put a link in the show notes and the song is called Christmas for One. It's a reminder that however you celebrate, whatever time you carve out for yourself also matters. If you like it, let me know. I might publish it on YouTube and Spotify. And feel free to share it if it lands so I'll close with the full song. Listen, enjoy. Happy holidays and 2026. Here we go.

Snow on the window Lights on the tree Quiet like Christmas was meant to be the world's holding still the night's just begun Not a sound in the house Christmas for one. Presents under the tree Wrapping undone Nothing needs doing I'm taking it slow Firelight flickers the room's warm and low Every small moment has space to breathe Coffee still steaming the clock doesn't move Records keep spinning Time slips from view.

The.

House settles in and so do I. No rush to fill the room with so much town I'm letting go of what I don't need now Feels like the night's finally mine I'm right where I'm meant to be tonight Christmas for one feels right. Stockings are full I smile at the sight Left myself something for later tonight Sighter than be Let the final run Time hits different when the day is done no holding a feeling I don't have to fake nothing Ask me to be anything else I sit with the silence Easy easy with myself. No rush to fill the room with sound this is exactly where I wanna be now Feel like the whole night's mine I've got nothing left to prove this time Lights in the the window A song on the radio Slow dancing Shadows in candlelight glow no one to wait for Nothing to miss Christmas for what feels right. They'll ask me Come January wasn't it lonely? I already know what I'll say Being with someone and still feeling alone Is heavier than silence I've known tonight I stay right here I don't disappear and this final moving Feels like my Feels like the night's finally mine I don't need anything else tonight Lights in the window A song on the radio Peace in the quiet Moving slow no one to wait for for nothing to miss yeah Christmas for what feels right Merry Christmas to me to my own company this Christmas for one Feels like mine.