New Year Planning
Do you ever find yourself swimming in a sea of to-do’s, not knowing what to do first and experience overwhelm paralysis? Or never diving into deep work? Saying yes to too many things? Feeling burned out and needing an entire week to recover because you did too much? I sure do.
It’s akin to swimming backstroke without a guide or sailing on a starless night. You will end up zig zagging through the waters, having to course correct constantly. Likewise, when we don’t have big picture goals in mind, it’s easy to get side tracked and end up being burned out. If you want to sail into 2022 with ease and intention, it’s necessary to create goals. Not just any goals though, you want to make sure these goals are aligned to your values.
Ben and I took a mini two-day retreat to plan for 2022 (just in our cozy home, where we said no to any commitments except for planning.) We structured our retreat based off of this podcast episode, “Prepare Now to Have Your Best Year Ever.” I highly recommend listening it. Michael Hyatt provides so much clarity, leading to motivation.
Check out how we structured about our planning below. Download the worksheets below, print them out, and make a dreamy mess out of them ! Trust me, the process writing it down tangibly really helps your brain process your words and your thoughts.
PART ONE - REFLECTION AND VALUE ALIGNMENT
Review of the past year - What did you accomplish? What did you fail at? Were there any regrets?
List 2-3 reoccurring themes of 2021.
What makes you come alive? What do you want to see more of in your life? This does not have to be work related. However, I believe your work and life does very much affect each other.
Imagine your life in 5 years. How old are you? What does your community look like? What does your work look like? The more specific the better. This step helps you think big picture. You may realize that you do not foresee a certain aspect of your work in 5 years, and this would be a good time to weed it out.
List your responsibilities and roles. For me this looked like, wife, mother, daughter, neighbor, sister, friend, business owner, employee, etc. Having a list of the areas I need show up in helped me think through what area of life is important to me.
Give thanks. Being grateful allows you to step into planning with an abundance mindset. If you have a hard time thinking about what you’re grateful for, you can ask yourself, “What have I received?”
PART TWO - GOAL SETTING
Make Goals. All right, now that you have a overall vision and right mindset, it’s time to make goals! We found Michael’s approach of SMARTER goals extremely practical. SMARTER standing for: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Risky, Time-key, Exciting, and Risky. Try to aim for 7-10 goals, and no more than 12 goals!
Break it down. How will you practically achieve these goals? Break it down into quarterly action items. I loved this part and seeing to-do’s based on the seasons, which makes so much sense and felt so natural.
Prioritize your Q1 action items. Start with your easiest.
PART THREE - SET UP ACCOUNTABILITY
Write it down. Put everything down on a monthly view calendar. Stick a few post-it notes on frequently trafficked area to help you remember your vision and goals. If you don’t see it, you will forget it.
Schedule review. Schedule a day at the end of each quarter to reflect on how you did and to review the next quarter’s goals and action items.