What Worked, What Didn’t and What to Leave Behind: A Candid Practice Debrief for 2025 with Susan Guthrie on the Practice Playbook Podcast #549

If you want a clearer, steadier, and more grounded start to 2026, this episode offers the essential year-end reflection every legal and dispute resolution professional should be doing. As the year winds down, Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized mediator, legal entrepreneur, and bestselling author,  guides you through a candid, deeply clarifying debrief of your practice.

Instead of waiting for the calendar to turn and hoping things feel different in January, Susan shows you how to understand the patterns, decisions, and dynamics that shaped your year. You’ll look closely at what worked, what drained you, and what you’re finally ready to let go of, so you can step into the new year with focus, intention, and renewed purpose.

This episode mirrors the same process Susan uses with her private coaching clients every December, and it includes access to a powerful companion worksheet to help you translate today’s insights into a written plan for the year ahead.

Whether you want to strengthen your systems, expand your visibility, refine your services, or simply create more ease in your business, this honest debrief will help you step into 2026 with clarity and confidence.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Your wins are your data! Identify the strategies and behaviors that moved your practice forward this year
• How to uncover the projects, habits, and commitments that drained your time or energy
• Why follow-up remains one of the most powerful (and underused) growth tools in any practice
• How to evaluate opportunities that aligned with your vision and those that didn’t
• Key questions for assessing visibility, client experience, efficiency, and sustainability
• How to identify what to refine, what to adjust, and what to release completely
• The emotional and practical power of letting go
• How to turn lessons learned into strategic choices for the year ahead

Download the Year-End Debrief Companion Worksheet

Make this reflection process easy and intentional with a guided worksheet created specifically for this episode. This companion resource walks you through each step of your year-end debrief so you can capture your insights clearly and turn them into meaningful action for 2026.

Download the worksheet here: https://susaneguthrie.thinkific.com/products/digital_downloads/ai-placeholder-5

Inside, you’ll find thoughtful prompts and supportive questions that help you identify your wins, acknowledge what didn’t work, and decide what you’re ready to release. It’s a simple, structured way to gather everything you uncovered in this episode and shape it into a confident plan for the year ahead.

Susan Guthrie

Immediate Past Chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan E. Guthrie is a nationally recognized leader at the intersection of legal innovation, dispute resolution, and entrepreneurial practice-building. With over three decades of experience as an attorney and mediator, Susan now dedicates her work to helping professionals build future-proof,… MORE