Annual Planning and Goal Setting for An Unpredictable Year
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Annual Planning and Goal Setting for An Unpredictable Year
Instead of New Year’s resolutions, I seek to take a look at my habits, schedule, and priorities and make adjustments as needed. Here are three tips for making lasting change.
If you want to make change, do whatever you can to make it as easy as possible. “Make good habits easy and bad habits hard.” Embrace and celebrate low hanging fruit!
Review the last quarter of the year. What was missing? What needs to be adjusted? Envision the next 90 days and what you want to do differently.
Figure out what needs to go and cut it out. You can always add it back in, but remember life is like a closet. You can’t add in new things without cutting out other things. Be judicious.
As you begin annual planning for the year ahead, a good exercise to do is both look forward and look back. You can do this through journaling and visualizing what matters most in your year.
Crack open a journal or Notes app and imagine it is New Years Day of next year. Answer these questions as you journal from the future...
What worked well over the past year?
What are the values I’m glad I prioritized over the last year? How did living these out materialize in my day-to-day life?
What habits am I glad that I kicked? What habits am I glad that I implemented?
What special moments am I glad I made space for? What memories am I glad I prioritized?
What were the highlights of the year? Who were a part of them?
What are the financial goals I’m proud I achieved?
What are the career goals I’m proud I achieved?
What noise did I minimize in my life that resulted in better mental health and better relationships?
What am I most pleased that I accomplished over the last year? What are the 3-4 challenging, but important priorities?