It’s easy to set big intentions for the new year—especially as a thoughtful, reflective therapist. But let’s be honest: intentions alone don’t build the practice you want.

In this final episode of 2025, I’m sharing the quote that’s been sticking with me lately: “The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit—but it is the most significant day.” This episode is an invitation to move beyond just dreaming and into doing. I’ll walk you through how to recognize the places where you're stuck in reflection, and how to gently—but firmly—start making progress, even in the face of uncertainty.

If you’ve been waiting for confidence or clarity before making a move in your practice… this one’s for you.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

1️⃣ The quiet trap of intention-setting—and what most therapists are missing in the middle

2️⃣ What ACT therapy can teach you about values-driven marketing and imperfect commitment

3️⃣ Why action (not certainty) is the real foundation of confidence and growth

Resources & Links Mentioned:

1. Join the Confident Copy waitlist for early access and savings: walkerstrategyco.com/waitlist
2. The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com

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Enjoying the podcast? Subscribe so you never miss an episode—and feel free to share it with a fellow therapist who’s building their private practice.

Explore more marketing support for therapists: The Walker Strategy Co website

About Marketing Therapy

Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker—marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.

Hey everyone.

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Welcome back to Marketing Therapy,

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I'm excited about this episode.

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It's inspired by a quote I came

across, actually, and some writing.

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We've been doing recently for

our clients, but my hope is

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that this episode is a gentle.

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Kick in the pants a little bit

as you head into the new year.

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Now, when I get to describe the work that

I do to, you know, parents at school or

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people that ask what I do, they always

kind of chuckle when I say therapist.

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And often I'll get the quote back.

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Well, that's a niche,

and I say, you know what?

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Therapists make the best clients,

and I really do believe that.

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I absolutely love working with clinicians.

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You are often fantastic communicators.

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You're very insightful, and

you're incredibly reflective by

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nature, which makes you a joy

to talk to and to work with, but

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also really serves your business.

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You are intentional about making

decisions that feel aligned

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and ethical and thoughtful.

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That defines the personality

of most therapists, at least

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the ones that I've run across.

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And so as you're staring down the

new year in just a handful of days,

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there's some really common behaviors

you're probably thinking about.

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I see a lot of therapists name a word of

the year, you might be setting revenue

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or caseload goals, which is excellent.

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You might be deciding, you know what,

this is the year I focus on my practice.

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This is the year I dpa.

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This is the year I launch the practice.

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This is the year, and I love that I'm

actually a really bad goal setter.

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Personally, I hate setting goals I can't

reach, and so I tend to avoid them.

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And so anytime I see someone setting

those goals and setting those

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intentions, I'm inspired by it.

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I think it's fantastic.

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However.

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There's a pattern.

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I see, and this isn't

exclusive to therapists.

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I think we all know what this is like.

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We set a clear intention.

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We feel the energy of the new

year, the energy of a new season,

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and then the follow through wanes.

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You're real motivated at first, and

then the self-criticism kicks in.

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The Why didn't I do more?

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The self blame, the frustration

that you didn't actually.

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Move toward that intention,

you'd set so earnestly early on.

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Now we both know this is not laziness,

this is not avoidance, but intentions

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alone do not create behavior change.

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You and I both know that.

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So it's not that wanting something

for your practice is the problem.

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It's about what you do after that.

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It is about recognizing that intentions

alone aren't going to get you where

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you want to go, and that a clear plan,

commitment to a plan, and then follow

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through are what is going to ultimately

result in you reaching those goals.

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Now I mentioned that this episode is

inspired by a quote I came across.

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I actually screenshotted this.

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It was from someone's Instagram story.

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I don't regularly screenshot

people's Instagram stories or quotes.

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I'm not a kind of a quote collector in

the way that some other people are, but

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this one just really stood out to me.

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I had to go back and grab

it, and that quote said this,

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the day you plant the seed.

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Is not the day you eat the fruit,

but it is the most significant

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day because without it, there

would be no purposeful growth.

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The day you plant the seed is not

the day you eat the fruit, but

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it is the most significant day.

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Often I see therapists over focusing

on fruit, over focusing on outcomes,

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on revenue, on caseload, numbers,

on de paneling, or they get stuck in

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reflection, the intention building,

but they skip the commitment moment.

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You want it?

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You're super focused on the fruit.

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Are you planting the seed?

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Are you tending to the seed?

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We both know that a website doesn't

convert the day you decide to work on it.

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Sometimes it converts

the day you launch it.

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I love when that happens, but

it sure doesn't convert the day

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you decide to prioritize it.

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Your niche doesn't pay off the day

you finally name it, but without that

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first decision, nothing can compound.

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So here's what I want to

gently and lovingly say to you.

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Having goals, resolutions,

setting intentions is good.

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It's not enough on its own.

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Wanting things for your

practice is incredible.

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Knowing where you want to go, what you

want that fruit to look like is important.

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But in order to do that, you

have to have a clear plan.

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You have to have steps to get there.

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Without it, you stay stuck in

intention setting and you never

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actually get where you want to go.

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Now, we get to write on behalf of

many, many clinicians every year

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in our done for you services.

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Plus we get to see what other people write

in Confident Copy and as a result of that.

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We get to do a lot of research

into different therapeutic methods.

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It's another reason I love working

with therapists because I find these

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so fascinating and one that we've

been writing a lot about has been act.

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In order to write well about act, we've

gotta learn pretty deeply what it does.

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I've also been on the receiving end

of ACT in some of my recent therapy

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work, and it's been incredibly

transformational for me, and I think

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there are some elements of act and values.

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No pun intended of ACT

that could apply here.

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Now, we both know, that act is

fundamentally about creating

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psychological flexibility, right?

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The ability to be okay even when

things aren't okay to stay in contact

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with the present moment, to get

clear about values, and then choose

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actions aligned with those values.

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Even when.

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Thoughts and emotions,

uncertainty show up.

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I think that's one of the cool parts

of ACT and one of the reasons I

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personally as a client have benefited

so much from it because ACT is

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not symptom elimination, right?

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It's not coping skills per se.

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It's behavior change in

the presence of discomfort.

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Recognizing that the circumstances

might not change the relationships,

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the people might not change, but I.

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It can change.

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I can choose differently.

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I can act aligned with the

way that I want to show up.

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Act doesn't say think

differently, so you feel better.

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Act says, tell the truth about

where you are, and act anyway in

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service of what matters to you.

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Psychological flexibility is

what ultimately allows progress

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without waiting for the certainty

or the confidence to come first.

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Remember, the day you plant the seed

is the most significant day, because

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without it, you'll never bear the fruit.

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So it's making a decision to

plant even if you don't have that

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certainty or that confidence Yet.

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So if we look first at the idea of

acceptance, it's about making room

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for reality, not arguing with what is.

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And I think sometimes clinicians

think that they need to put on

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rose colored glasses or put in

earplugs in order to be successful.

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Listen, you can accept that the market

is saturated and still build momentum.

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You can accept that marketing

feels uncomfortable and

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take aligned action anyway.

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You can accept uncertainty

about what's to come without

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postponing decisions indefinitely.

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Acceptance is what frees up your

energy to actually take action when

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you resist it, that consumes energy

acceptance, redirects it toward.

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Forward momentum.

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So it doesn't mean you need to like

the reality of where you find yourself,

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whether that reality is external,

the economy, the saturation of your

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market, or internal the discomfort

or uncertainty anxiety that you feel.

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But it means working

effectively within it.

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Now when we look at the commitment

piece, commitment is ongoing.

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It is imperfect, and it is

chosen again and again and again.

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Commitment is not certainty.

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It is not motivation,

it is not confidence.

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It is not running on vibes.

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Okay?

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Commitment is deciding what you'll

do, even if it feels uncomfortable,

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even if you're not 100% sure.

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Even if results aren't immediate

or guaranteed, and that's scary.

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I mean, when you really think about the

idea of building and launching your own

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business, that is radically uncomfortable.

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It is radically uncertain.

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We have no idea what

could possibly happen.

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Commitment is deciding that you're still

gonna do it, because if you don't make

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that commitment, then you just stay stuck.

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You could tie this back

to the idea of niching.

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Niching is something I

hear from many clinicians.

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They feel a lot of resistance

around because they feel like

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they have to marry themselves to

one population or one presenting

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issue for the rest of their career.

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What if a values driven commitment

is choosing a niche direction,

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knowing it might evolve,

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or when we think about

putting yourself out there?

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The idea of being vulnerable in your

marketing can be incredibly uncomfortable.

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What if this looks like

publishing a website?

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Even if it doesn't feel perfect?

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Spoiler alert, it never will.

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What if it means starting to follow a plan

instead of just endlessly researching?

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Researching is one of those

things that feels productive.

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Well, I went to another webinar.

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I downloaded another freebie.

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I read another blog post.

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I asked chat GBT about another thing.

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What about doing it?

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What about committing to a plan instead

of staying stuck in that research mode?

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So again, we come back to this quote.

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The day you plant the seed is not

the day you bear the fruit, but

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it is the most significant day.

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So setting the intention, knowing

you want the fruit is good, but

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commitment, that's the seed you plant.

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Outcomes are the fruit that full

caseload, the full fee clients, the

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practice revenue, the feeling that you

want, but the middle, the waiting time.

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You either have that or you don't.

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That's that clear plan that must

be in place if you're ever gonna

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get from intention to outcome.

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So you set the intention, you commit

to plant the seed, and then you

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follow a plan to reach the outcome.

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Now, I mentioned earlier that I don't

enjoy setting goals, but people in my

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life coaches, my director of operations,

they all encourage me and push me to do

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it anyway, but maybe, maybe you do too.

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Maybe you resist plans or you resist goals

because you fear the pressure of them.

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That's me.

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I fear the pressure of a goal staring

me down that I might not reach.

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Maybe you fear the rigidity of

it, that it doesn't give you the

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flexibility to change course.

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You probably fear, failure,

that's also me, right?

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The pressure of not reaching it AKA, the

fear of failure when I don't, that's real.

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But when you commit, when you start

taking action and following a plan , it

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actually reduces the cognitive load.

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On you because you're no longer staying in

the what if, the imagining the scenario,

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planning, you're actually moving.

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And as a result, there are

actually fewer decisions to be made

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because you're doing something.

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You're not just staring down in endless

list of possibilities and that gives you

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more capacity for actually taking action.

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Random effort, the panic.

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Hair on fire.

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Spaghetti at the wall.

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Thing that we often talk about

around here, it leads to exhaustion.

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You and I both know that when

you're following things in a clear

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sequence, even if it's uncomfortable,

that's what builds the momentum.

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So a plan commitment, it doesn't remove

flexibility, it actually protects it.

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It steadies you.

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It provides some safety and some

framework for you to start moving.

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Where are there places in your practice

that you are resisting taking action?

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You have all the intentions in

the world, but you haven't yet.

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Done anything.

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When you think about what's

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some of those intentions if you

haven't yet, those are important.

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Get clear about what you want.

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Get clear about what you want your

practice to look like one year from

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now as you're thinking back on 2026.

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But then, then you've gotta do something.

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You can think about the seed,

but you've gotta plant it.

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And then after you plant

it, you must nurture it.

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The planting of the seed is the most

significant day, but the willingness to

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stay committed, the willingness to tend

that soil, that's what leads to the fruit.

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So as reflective as you likely

are as a clinician, where is

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there room to keep moving?

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In the midst of the uncertainty,

the discomfort, the anxiety that

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surrounds building a business.

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Again, this isn't about finding certainty

'cause you're never gonna find it.

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It's about taking action in spite of it.

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Remember, you can accept that

the economy is challenging and

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still build a successful practice.

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You can accept that the market is

saturated and still build momentum.

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You can accept that marketing

feels uncomfortable.

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And still put yourself out

there taking aligned action.

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Anyway, you can accept the uncertainty

of business ownership and practice

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growth, and the economy and the

world, and your client's behavior and

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your caseload ebbs and flows without

postponing decisions indefinitely.

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Don't stay in the intention setting stage.

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After you do that, then start moving.

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Then plant the seed, then tend to it.

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That's what's going to

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And what if accepting and

committing actually frees up the

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energy and the cognitive space

you need to start moving forward.

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What if confidence?

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And clarity come after doing those things.

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In my experience, that's

exactly what happens.

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Confidence does not proceed.

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Action.

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Action breeds it.

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So where can you begin moving?

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Where can you begin setting intention,

making decision, and then taking action?

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That's what I want to really

charge you with as you start

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2026 in just a handful of days.

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If you're sitting here knowing what

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if you're tired of revisiting the same

goals and that cycle I talked about,

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where you set intentions and then

the motivation wanes, and then you

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look back frustrated with yourself,

if you're ready to get out of that.

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Then maybe joining the wait list for

Confident Copy is a commitment step.

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You're not actually committing to

anything other than getting extra savings

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if you decide to join Confident Copy,

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but it is doing something.

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It's showing commitment to the

practice that you want to build.

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And then if you choose to join us in

Confident copy, when doors reopen next

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month, then you've planted that seed.

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Is that seed a promise of instant results?

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It's not, but it is planting

something meaningful that has the

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potential to grow into incredible,

incredible outcomes for you.

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Confident copy is the place for

clinicians who are clear on where

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they want to go and want support.

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A clear plan in getting there.

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It is about helping you get really,

really clear and confident on what it

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is that you do through action, through

deep self-discovery, through the learning

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of new skills, through the flexing,

as I say, of new muscles, but doing it

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with support, doing it with a proven

framework that is designed specifically

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for therapists in your position and

in community with others doing the

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same.

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maybe joining the wait list is one way for

you to choose movement before certainty.

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Maybe it's something else, but I encourage

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just the intention setting in the midst

of uncertainty, in the midst of anxiety.

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Take that values aligned action.

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Move toward where you want to go.

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It is those decisions while scary, while

overwhelming, while uncertain, that

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will lead to the ultimate fruit that

you want to be bearing in your practice.

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All right.

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With this, I am signing off until 2026.

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I hope this one was helpful for you.

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Again, if you'd like to join

the Confident copy waitlist

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walker strategy co.com/waitlist,

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doors will reopen in just a

handful of weeks in the new year.

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Whatever you do for New Year's, I hope

whether you stay up late or are in bed by

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eight 30, everyone, raise your hand that

it's a good one and I will talk to you in

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the new year.