Let’s spend some time planning for a new year. Get a sheet of paper, some quiet–or some good tunes, you decide–and let’s do some goal setting, vision boarding, and looking forward.
Traditionally, I lean type A. I enjoy to-do lists, goal setting of all shapes and sizes, and keeping track. If there’s one thing I love more than putting too many things on my daily task list, it’s data. Numbers, statistics, trends, I like the raw, extremely honest reality of cold, hard data.
In years past, I have overloaded my annual goals list just as easily as my day-to-day, and honestly, in 2023 I took it easy in the planning department. The general mantra and the single-minded thesis went something like, ‘Do more of the same’.
For this next year, though, I wanted to dive back into being a little more intentional with my planning. Completing a social media detox in November was one way I created some time to review and assess 2023. And as a result, I have notes. So now it’s time to look forward and plan for 2024.
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.”
Looking Back So We Can Look Forward
Take out a blank piece of paper and write down all the highlights from each month this past year. If you can’t remember specifics, scroll through your photos for a refresh of times passed, meals shared, and adventures had.
Curate a list of bullet points under each month’s heading for the past year. Focus on the good things and note anything else that comes to mind, so we can review what worked and what didn’t.
Categories can include career stuff, family and friends stuff, finance stuff, health and wellness stuff, spiritual stuff, business stuff, etc.
Notice Things: Review What Worked and What Didn’t
After you’ve written out highlights for the year, review the trends. Notice how you feel as a whole. Do any words come to mind? Do your feelings align with the things that actually happened?
Choose a word or words that summarize the past year. Spend some time reviewing the great things that happened. Give center stage to gratitude. Reminiscing out loud about all the good things is a surefire recipe for joy.
If you’re pessimistic like me, you’ll have no issues noticing the sad things and recalling the things that didn’t go quite to plan. The goals dropped, the tough realities of life, the seasons of feeling pretty low. Note these events too.
Spend Time Journaling and Assessing
Overall, 2023 was a rough one emotionally for me. Outside of the low points and grief though, I can see that I turned to God and grew closer to him in those times. I can also see objectively I didn’t have a bad year.
On paper, even though I went through a lot internally, and externally, I had a lot of wins. Also, I walked away having grown for the better, even in sight of the losses that I weathered.
This exercise also revealed how pessimistic I can be and drove home more than ever how much of an internal person I am. I essentially only focused on the negative things on the first pass, rather than highlighting the positive. As a result, I had to complete the exercise twice, making sure to speak out loud and thank God for all the truly good things that happened.
Niche Down: Create Categories for the New Year
Now that we’re done reviewing the past year, it’s time to look forward. Before we dive into goal setting and defining SMART goals, let’s choose some categories to focus on.
Write out your categories.
Think of these categories as pillars or mainstays of what makes up your life. My pillars include:
- Spiritual: Spending time with God, prayer, Bible reading
- Relationships: marriage, family, friendships
- Work / Career: production goals, being proactive, money goals, flexibility goals
- Blog / Entrepreneurship: content, branding, writing, money goals
- Real Estate / Finance Goals: Save x% of income, buy another rental property
- Health and Wellness: exercise, nutrition, cooking
These pillars should be a mixed bag and should represent areas of your life you’d like to be intentional.
SMART Goals
What are SMART goals and how do we use them for productivity?
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This is the litmus test for what types of goals you set. The goals have to be specific things that are relevant to your life.
Also, SMART goals aren’t pie-in-the-sky items. They also need to be achievable. Dreaming big is one thing, but listing goals that are truly out of your control and out of your reach won’t help you in the new year.
Measurable and time-bound goals are a way to tie our visions to something tangible. This is where the cold, hard data enters the chat. When a goal is time-bound to a specific date, we can more easily schedule measurable moments that lead to actually achieving a goal.
How to Set SMART Goals
For more information on how to write SMART Goals check out this article.
You can also use Notion to create your own SMART goal template or purchase a premade one for as little as $5 to help you plan.
Now we’re to the point of setting a few goals within our pillars of life. As you brainstorm make sure these goals are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-Bound
I like this approach a lot because it will keep me from going too crazy and putting my entire life’s goals all down to be accomplished in one year.
I also like that this format forces me to break goals up into smaller, measurable things that I can actually put in my Google calendar throughout next year to give myself little goalposts throughout the entire 12 months.
Don’t Be Afraid to Cut Things out of Your Life
During your year-end review, you may have noticed trends surrounding habits, people, or hobbies in your life that are not serving you.
As someone who is unbelievably routine, I find myself maintaining the status quo simply because it has always been that way. This time of year is a great time to assess the things you do just because you always have.
Don’t be afraid to decide to cut things loose that no longer serve you or your goals. Forcing change in this way can feel like the end of the world, but once you have cut things out here and there, you’ll realize how much better and freer you are to devote time and attention to things that are positive and useful.
