Plan Simple with Mia Moran

“Pausing to plan December allows us to both feel complete and feel ready.”

You all might not want to hear about December again by the time I'm done with you. But I believe so strongly in this month as a transformation point that I'm going to keep talking about it until I've helped as many women as possible use it to their benefit. In this episode, I share the 10 reasons I believe a pause before December is so important, and why it's about so much more than the holidays.

In this episode:

• Why December is a classroom for planning. It brings up all the key things I teach about planning in one contained month, which makes it an amazing testing ground.
• How easy it is to slip into default. Even after 11 years, I almost didn't sit down to make my own plan this year, and I share what finally helped.
• The power of an in-between time. Like our Friday planning in FLOW365, planning December helps you feel complete with this year and ready for the next one.
• Caring for your wellness when the culture says give up. I share how our from-scratch Thanksgiving sushi tradition began, and the one question I ask about every holiday habit.
• Heart and soul care, and boundaries. Where my quiet comes from when the house is full, and why December is a fertile playground for saying no.
• Why I'm done with stuff being what creates the magic. I've announced we're not doing presents this year, and I'm still working with it.
• Date clarity and wishy-washy projects. How getting everything out of my head creates space, and why December's built-in deadline helps us finally finish things.
• My invitation to not have to recover in January.

3 things doable moves you can make this week

Decide how you want December to feel. Before the season decides for you, pick one word, like connected, calm, or joyful. Let it guide which invitations get a yes and which traditions you keep.

Get your dates out of your head. Grab your calendar and write down who's coming, who's going, and when. Then add one thing that's just for you, like a sound healing, a solstice walk, or your journal at a café.

Choose one project to call done in 2026. Think of the wishy-washy project that only you know about. Give it a real deadline before the holidays and decide what the simplest version of "done" looks like.

Want the full workbook and my guidance?

If you'd love to be talked through your whole December step by step, come join me for Make December Matter. We go live on Thursday, November 12, at 1pm ET. I'll walk you through each part of the plan using the workbook, and then we'll set a timer and plan together. Can't make it live? The replay works anytime before December, over a weekend or your Thanksgiving break.

Your seat also includes guided planning every month for the year ahead. We meet on each new moon to plan the month to come, so you keep building that planning muscle all year long. It's $111 until the live event, and $147 after.

Sign Up Here (At checkout, make sure the year is selected.)

“The years that I really trusted this process and made the space for it are the years that really pop in the timeline of my life and my business.”

In the last episode, I shared the history of why December matters so much to me. In this one, I’m letting you into my brain as I start planning this December. It’s a little circular, it’s honest, and it’s happening on a day that feels more like May than winter. I hope it sparks your own thinking as you listen.

In this episode:

• Why intentional Decembers work, like vitamins. It’s hard to tell they’re working until you skip them. The years I didn’t plan my December well, the following year was different every single time, and the years I trusted the process are the ones that pop in my timeline.
• My shifting identity as a mother. My kids are 23, almost 21, and almost 18, and they’re all coming home with their personalities, their stuff, and their lives. A client’s passing comment that her kids weren’t coming home this year went straight to my heart and made me think about how I want to be with them now.
• Protecting my self-care when the house is full. This November I’m doing yoga every day and sharing something with my audience every day, as a devotion to my body and my business. I’m thinking about how to carry that into December alongside the reflective, dreamy soul work that winter calls me into.
• Rethinking presents. Even with years of thoughtful simplicity, things get returned or left behind. I’m dreaming about doing it differently, maybe a Yankee swap or an afternoon of thrifting together, and getting my adult kids’ buy-in before anything changes.
• Writing letters and reimagining our countdown calendar. Simple still takes time, and I want to prioritize writing each of my kids a letter. I’m also wondering how to “young adultify” our advent calendar, and I know I need to share plans in advance and put them on the calendar.
• Finishing work strong so I can truly unplug. I want to take real time off, feel finished, and be an example of what’s possible for women entrepreneurs. That means project plans, meetings with my bookkeeper and accountant in the calendar year, an easy FLOW365 re-enrollment process, and setting the autoresponder.

This is not a sales event. I made it for my FLOW365 clients, and I’m inviting other women into it. It’s you coming to plan your December, and I’ll use my own plan as an example as we go. Here’s how it works:

• Live session on Thursday, November 12th. In about two and a half hours, I’ll walk you through designing your whole December.
• Do the work over the weekend. You’ll get a beautiful planning book and the recording, so you can take your time.
• Integration and coaching on Tuesday, November 17th. We’ll meet back up so you can get your questions answered and head into the season feeling ready.
• Can’t make it live? Join anyway and use the replay. Maybe this is your Black Friday thing.

What we’ll plan together:

• Work and life projects that need finishing, and what doesn’t need to get done
• A wellness plan for food, sleep, and your health
• Your holidays, including gifts, gatherings, and even that difficult dinner
• How to actually take time off
• Space in the dark days of December for delicious dreaming and visioning

Here’s the part I’m so excited about. When you join for $111, you get a year on Substack. That includes Make December Matter plus a guided planning session every month, so you pull the thread of your vision all the way through 2027. The price goes up to $147 on November 12th, so grab it now.

Are you an entrepreneur in midlife and beyond who wants to grow your network next year? You can upgrade to the version that includes networking.

[Sign Up Here]

And bring a friend! The more the merrier, and you’ll have built-in accountability.

• Notice how your role is changing. Ask yourself who you’re becoming this season, as a mom, a partner, or a business owner. Then decide what you want to support, and what you’re ready to let others do for themselves.
• Choose one self-care anchor for December. Pick something that gets you out of the house or into your journal, like a restorative yoga class, a sound healing, or a community tradition you love. Put it on the calendar now.
• Talk about the holidays before they arrive. If you’re thinking of doing gifts or traditions differently, share your ideas early and invite buy-in. No one likes a surprise rug-pull.
• Get your plans on the calendar. If you want everyone together for a concert, a dinner, or a movie night by the fire, say so now. Grown kids and busy friends make plans fast.
• Handle the calendar-year to-dos. Look at what needs to happen before December 31st, like a bookkeeper meeting, an accountant check-in, or a health appointment, and schedule it.
• Plan your exit from work. Decide what “finished” looks like, make a simple project plan to get there, and write your autoresponder ahead of time so you can truly unplug.

Excited to have a plan for all this? Join Us for Make December Matter

If you’ve been thinking about FLOW365, I’ll be opening a short window to join in 2026 for 2027, which can be helpful if you’d like to invest in yourself this calendar year.

“If you can do it in December, you can do it in any month.”

December is one of my favorite months of the year, and it hasn’t always been that way. In this episode, the first of two this week, I take you on a journey backwards through how my Decembers have evolved. I share why I believe an intentional December can lead to an extraordinary year.

In this episode:

• Why December is so potent for growth. December comes with more triggers: the end-of-year rush, money, health, temptation, and comparison. They’re coming up for everyone around us too. If you can do it in December, you can do it in any month.
• My natural winter rhythm. I’m a hunker-down-in-winter kind of woman, with a journal, hot tea, soup, and fewer people. I learned early that the world around me didn’t work that way.
• Growing up in New Orleans. I loved Christmas, and I also felt everyone’s stress, from late-night desk assembly to family dynamics to everything being done before we sat down.
• Becoming a mom and simplifying gifts. Simplicity Parenting led to our four-gift tradition: something needed, something wanted, something made, and something to read. I also had the hard conversations asking grandparents for experiences instead of presents.
• Reimagining Thanksgiving. After I got healthy and changed my food, our Thanksgiving became about the kids choosing what we cook together. We’ve done it this way for about 16 years, chatting and dancing in the kitchen.
• The year I shattered my wrist. I fell ice skating on Black Friday and spent that December by the fire, catching up to who I’d become and dreaming about what was next.
• The year I wrote it all down. I spent a visioning day with my business BFF Jen Mazer in New York City, then filled in my workbook by the fire. That year brought my Kickstarter, my book, and a family book tour, and it began my planning obsession.
• Why every December is different. Each one responds to the year that came before it. That’s why it’s so important to pause long enough to plan it.
• Make December Matter’s ninth year. This year I’m calling it the essentialist year, and in the next episode I’ll take you behind the scenes of what I’m thinking about for my own December.

You don’t have to wait for the event to begin. Here are a few ways to start today.

Notice what December usually asks of you. Think about last December. What drained you, what filled you up, and where did you feel the pull to be someone you’re not?

Ask what you want to keep, let go of, and bring in. Every December is different because every year is different. What traditions still feel true? What are you ready to release? What have you been wanting to bring in forever and ever?

Respond to this year as it is. Who will be home and who won’t? What does your body need, and what does your business need? Let your December fit the life you’re living right now, not the one you lived ten years ago.

Decide what doesn’t need to get done. Look at your work and home projects and get honest about what truly has to happen this calendar year. Everything else can wait.

Protect some time to dream. Put a few unhurried hours on your calendar for reflection and visioning. Give yourself a fire, a journal, something warm to drink, and permission to write it all down.

Excited to have a plan for all this? Join Us for Make December Matter

This is the ninth year of Make December Matter, and it’s the most essential one yet. Here’s how it works:

• Live session on Thursday, November 12th. In about two and a half hours, I’ll walk you through designing your whole December.
• Do the work over the weekend. You’ll get planning pages and the recording, so you can take your time.
• Integration and coaching on Tuesday, November 17th. We’ll meet back up so you can get your questions answered and head into the season feeling ready.

What we’ll plan together:

• Work and life projects that need finishing, and what doesn’t need to get done
• A wellness plan for food, sleep, and your health
• Your holidays, including gifts, gatherings, and even that difficult dinner
• How to actually take time off
• Space in the dark days of December for delicious dreaming and visioning

Here’s the part I’m so excited about. When you join for $111, you get a year on Substack. That includes Make December Matter plus a guided planning session every month, so you pull the thread of your vision all the way through 2027. That’s about $9 a session.

Are you an entrepreneur in midlife and beyond who wants to grow your network next year? You can upgrade to the version that includes networking.

[Sign Up Here]

And bring a friend! The more the merrier, and you’ll have built-in accountability.

“Jealousy is showing us what's important to us, maybe a core need that's not being met.”

–Ally Iseman

What’s your relationship to jealousy? We’re often shamed for it or try to avoid it, but Ally Iseman, a Certified Relationship Coach, says jealousy is an emotion, a tool, and something that can show us what’s important to us.

It’s a lot easier to talk about jealousy when you aren’t triggered, and Ally shares her jealousy GROWTH method: ground, reflect, open, witness, timeout, and humanize. We dig into what each step looks like and why it’s important.

We talk about:

• four main kinds of jealousy in romantic relationships: possessiveness, comparison or competition, fear of abandonment, and distrust.
• The difference between envy and jealousy
• Shame, blame, and avoidance when it comes to jealousy
• How helpful it is to have someone holding the container for couples navigating jealousy
• Journaling to jealousy or your partner or yourself
• Curiosity as a way in to talking about jealousy

ABOUT ALLY

Ally Iseman, CRC is an award-winning creator, author, internationally Certified Relationship Coach, and NCSF-registered Kink Aware Professional specializing in modern relationship design, unlocking erotic jealousy, and consent and communication.

She is the founder of Passport 2 Pleasure, curated travel groups for couples who want to have the conversations they can’t have anywhere else.

Ally speaks on stages and screens of all sizes and is a featured culture commentator and subject matter expert. She has been featured in The New York Times, LADbible, Cosmopolitan, AskMen, and more.

Ally works with couples and individuals around the world who are at transition points in their dating and relationships. Whether they want to open their relationship to include more people, explore play parties together, or simply communicate more authentically about their kinks and curiosities, Ally helps them open up without breaking up.

Ally is based in Los Angeles and London.

LINKS

• thejealousyquiz.com
• https://www.passport2pleasure.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/allyiseman
• https://www.facebook.com/official.p2p
• https://www.youtube.com/@passport2pleasure
• https://www.tiktok.com/@passport2pleasure
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/passport2pleasure/
• https://allyiseman.substack.com/

DOABLE CHANGES

At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Action is where change happens.

Even though we want big change, it’s really little things done over and over that make the difference. So pick a doable thing. Put it in your calendar. Weave it through your days for a week and then move on to the next one. It will have a snowball effect.

Here are three Doable Changes from this conversation:

• GROUND. Try the first step of the Jealousy GROWTH method, and get out of your head into your body. Notice: Where is jealousy showing up physically in your body? What does it feel like? Is it tight? Is it hot? Is it bubbly? Notice the physical experience of jealousy.
• JEALOUSY JOURNALING. Try journaling about your jealousy. You can journal to your jealousy, to your partner, or to another part of yourself. This is a tool if you don’t have someone to talk to about your jealousy or if you want to explore it on your own first.
• IDENTIFY YOUR OWN JEALOUSY TYPE. The four most common kinds of jealousy in romantic relationships are possessiveness, comparison or competition, fear of abandonment, and distrust. Think about each of those. Does it show up in your relationship? Does one of them jump out as most common for you?

What if the moon could help you understand your energy, creativity, and focus, even after menopause?

For years, I planned my business, launches, writing, and even vacations around my menstrual cycle and the moon. Then perimenopause hit, my rhythms became unpredictable, and I let that way of planning go.

Now, on the other side of menopause, I'm reconnecting with the moon in a completely new way. And I'm using AI to make it easier!

In this episode of the Plan Simple Podcast, I'm sharing my personal journey with cycle-based planning, what changed during perimenopause, and why I've become so curious about finding my natural rhythms again.

We'll explore:

• How I used to plan my business and life around my cycle and the moon
• Why the moon can still be a useful planning framework after menopause
• How to track your energy, creativity, mood, and focus in just two minutes a day
• My 90-day moon experiment and how I'm using AI to look for patterns
• How understanding your personal rhythms can help you create plans that feel more natural and freeing

You don't need to know anything about astrology or moon phases to try this. You just need a little curiosity and a willingness to pay attention to yourself.

Resources mentioned:

Download my free Moon Journal to get started tracking your energy and exploring the moon's phases.

And if you're ready to make plans that work with your life, join me for Plan Next Month, where we create a simple, inspiring plan for the month ahead.

Because planning should support the way you actually live, feel, and work.

“How can we reframe social media or other platform building as part of our writing process?”

–Mara Eller

Are you writing a book? Or dreaming of writing one? Where does social media and Substack fit into that dream? We’re diving into all three of those — writing books, building a social media platform, and growth on Substack — with writer, editor, and book coach Mara Eller.

Mara almost gave up on Instagram, because not much was happening for her and she wondered if it was worth the time. Sound familiar? We talk about what changed, and how she went viral, and what that did for her followers.

Whether you use social media and Substack to grow your audience for your book or your business, you’ll find something in this conversation.

We talk about:

• Why you need to build a platform and a simple mindset shift that can help you show up
• Focusing on one platform and pushing your content to other platforms
• The Yap Challenge and doing a series
• Showing up daily in Notes on Substack and what else you can do there
• Tips and tools to actually sit down and get the writing done
• The importance of a writing community and how a book coach can help you

ABOUT MARA

Mara Eller is a writer, editor, and book coach with 17 years of experience. She’s passionate about helping people transform pain into purpose and claim authorship over their lives. Her podcast, The Soul and Science of Great Writing, explores the intersection of craft and creativity with equal parts awe and analysis. In addition to 1-1 editing and book coaching, she also offers a 5-month memoir writing program called Unearthing Beauty, which guides students through a repeatable process for identifying, outlining, and expressing their life-changing stories. Students walk away with the core of their memoir written and refined as well as a chapter-by-chapter roadmap and the tools they need to finish the entire and share it with the world.

LINKS

• Free exercise: maraeller.com/heartofyourstory.
• Website: maraeller.com
• Substack: @maraeller
• Instagram: @mara.eller
• TikTok: @maraellerwriter

DOABLE CHANGES

At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Action is where change happens.

Even though we want big change, it’s really little things done over and over that make the difference. So pick a doable thing. Put it in your calendar. Weave it through your days for a week and then move on to the next one. It will have a snowball effect.

Here are three Doable Changes from this conversation:

• CREATE A SERIES FOR SOCIAL. Pick a topic and talk about different parts of it every day for a week. Let people know it’s part of a series and they should tune to get the rest.
• SHOW UP IN NOTES. If you’re on Substack and want to start gaining traction, show up every day for a month in Notes. You can keep it simple. Share an idea, share a quote from a post, ask a question … Miss a day? Show up the next day.
• TOUCH YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE DAILY. You don’t have to churn out 50 pages every day or hit a specific word count. But try to touch your practice. Read what you wrote last and jot down notes about what’s next. Voice message an idea that comes while you’re driving. Make a list of scenes you have to write. And yes some days sit and write. But you don’t have to spend hours daily to be a writer or get your book done.

“The monthly plan is the place where you bring together where you are now with where you're going.” – Mia

Last year, one of my FLOW365 clients told me she had put her monthly plan in a gold frame on her desk. I loved the idea so much that I immediately went out and bought my own.

Now, every day when I sit down at my computer, I can look up and see what matters most to me. My big dreams are right there, alongside the things I've decided deserve my attention this month. On the days when I'm excited and full of energy, it keeps me focused. On the days when life feels complicated or I'm questioning what I'm doing, it reminds me why I'm doing it.

I've come to believe that monthly planning might be the most powerful planning practice we can have. It's the place where our big dreams meet our actual lives, where we can honor what this season is asking of us, and where we decide what deserves our energy next.

In this episode, I'm sharing my one-page monthly planning process, including the four steps I use to look back, learn from what's happened, reconnect with my bigger vision, and decide what matters most for the next four weeks.

I'm also talking about why I've been experimenting with planning around the new moon, what menopause has taught me about finding new rhythms, and why a monthly plan can be especially powerful when life looks nothing like we expected.

And we're talking about guided planning and why I think planning together can be as different from planning alone as going to a yoga class is from rolling out your mat in your living room.

You'll walk away with a simple process you can use right away, whether you're growing a business, navigating a big life transition, focusing on your health, or feeling called toward something new.

Want to see the process written down? I created a companion Substack post with all four steps, my favorite reflection questions, and a simple guide to creating your own one-page monthly plan. Read the Monthly Planning Guide on Substack

I've created Plan Next Month, a full year of guided monthly planning, because I want more women to experience what happens when we make time to plan consistently.

Here's how it works:

• 12 guided monthly planning sessions. Once a month, we'll gather on Zoom for one hour. I'll guide you through the planning process step by step, with time built in to actually make your plan.
• One page that holds what matters most. You'll create a simple plan that brings together your wellness, home and family, inner life, and work, while keeping your bigger dreams in view.
• A monthly planning template. You'll have a page to work with each month and a repeatable process you can make your own.
• Live or on your own time. Join me live or use the recording to plan whenever it works for you. The recordings include the guided exercises and planning time.
• A full year of practice. Each month you'll reflect, make decisions, and create a plan that responds to your actual life. Over time, you'll build the habit of following through on what matters.

And when you join now, you'll also get Make December Matter, my special year-end planning workshop, included. (It’s usually $97.)

Right now, you can join for $88 for the entire year, before the price increases. That's 12 months of planning together for less than the cost of many single workshops.

This is guided planning rather than coaching. You'll leave each session with your own completed monthly plan, and the structure to keep coming back to what matters.

Ready to plan the next 12 months with me?

Sign Up Here

When the season changes, the way we eat often needs to change too.

In this episode, I’m bringing you back to where Plan Simple began: food. I’m sharing how I’m resetting food in my own life this fall as our family rhythms shift, schedules change, and I pay closer attention to the energy I need for everything I want to do.

I’ll walk you through the simple questions I use to reset:

• Why does food matter to you right now?
• What was working before—and what isn’t working anymore?
• What are the actual circumstances of this season?
• What three things could make food feel easier and better right now?

We’ll talk about family dinners, feeding yourself when you work from home, seasonal rhythms, meal planning, grocery shopping, energy, and why food is an important part of productivity.

You don’t need a perfect meal plan. You need a food rhythm that works for the life you’re living now.

Fall can change the order of things, and what worked a few weeks ago may not work quite the same way now. This is a chance to pause and create the rhythm that will serve us best in this season.

Right now, I’m figuring out what fall looks like for movement, meals, work, creativity, and family life. In this episode, I’m sharing why I’m thinking less about rigid routines and more about creating a rhythm that can expand and contract with real life.

I’ll also share a simple way to think about who you’re becoming, what matters most right now, and what you can anchor into your days and weeks, basically, how to create your fall rhythm.

“You don't hate selling. You hate not knowing how to get clients.”

–Steph Crowder

Are you just box checking and calling it sales?

Sales isn’t a personality thing, it’s a skillset you can learn. And if you’re running a business, it’s a skillset you need. You can be amazing at what you do, but you need clients or customers. That’s why I’m so excited about this conversation with Sales and Strategy Coach Steph Crowder.

Selling doesn’t have to feel sleazy and gross. And, in fact, it can be a relief to actually take charge of sales. Steph shows us easy ways to work taking action on sales into our days.

We talk about:

• The difference between sales and marketing and knowing your money making activities
• Personal outreach and real conversation — and the problem with the way we think about coffee chats
• How we’re playing it safe (even if it feels like we are putting ourselves out there)
• Making sales a habit — what happens when you stack small activities over time?
• Dropping the jargon and making your offer accessible to a 7-year-old
• Finding the lie your clients are telling yourself to fire yourself up to write

ABOUT STEPH

Steph Crowder is a Sales and Strategy Coach who helps entrepreneurs sell with courage, clarity, and confidence. A former Director of Sales Training at Groupon, she’s coached thousands of business owners to land clients quickly and scale into sold-out group programs using simple, authentic sales strategies. Steph also hosts the Courage & Clarity podcast and runs a multiple 6-figure business in under 20 hours as a mom of two.

LINKS

• https://stephcrowder.com/
• https://stephcrowder.com/podcast/
• https://www.instagram.com/heystephcrowder/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniewuerdeman/

DOABLE CHANGES

At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Action is where change happens.

Even though we want big change, it’s really little things done over and over that make the difference. So pick a doable thing. Put it in your calendar. Weave it through your days for a week and then move on to the next one. It will have a snowball effect.

Here are three Doable Changes from this conversation:

• HAVE A CONVERSATION. Schedule a conversation — not a sales call, a conversation. The people you meet might become customers or they might become someone who thinks of you when they hear somebody who needs what you do. Go into it with curiosity and openness.
• SPEND ONE HOUR A DAY ON MONEY MAKING ACTIVITIES. What if you spent one hour every day on money making activities? Not perfecting an Instagram reel or obsessing over the wording on your sales page, but activities that actually put you out there and may lead to making money. DMs, conversations, follow ups…
• COMPETE IN THE TIME OLYMPICS. Pick a timeframe — a few hours in an airport lounge, the time between drop off and pick up, a single morning — and challenge yourself to get an email series or landing page done.