New Year Planning

I’m no life coach, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve been totally obsessed with New Years, with planning, and with goal setting. And a few years ago, I discovered personal development and it totally changed my life. It’s what inspired me to start this blog, pursue my business and begin YouTubing. So it’s a subject very near and dear to me. I love it, I can’t get enough of it and I could nerd out on it for as long as you let me.

So consider this blog post a little nerding out session, where I share some of the very best New Years planning advice I’ve collected over the years in the hopes that it inspires you to have your best year yet.

Grab a notebook and pen, your favorite drink or snack and lets dream up our best selves shall we?

Reflect & Record

When I begin my annual “wind down”, I like to start here… by reflecting.

It’s really important before making big goals and plans for the next year to give yourself the chance to reflect, and to get a really good feel for where you are RIGHT NOW. ( Can’t GPS somewhere without having a starting place right?)

Plus it gives you a chance to see how far you’ve come since the year before and to appreciate the progress you’ve already made! This is seriously one of the biggest gifts you can give to yourself at the end of each year.

My annual reflection process usually includes three parts…

1. Reflecting ( What did I accomplish? What good things happened? What am I proud of? What am I disappointed in myself for?)

2. Dreaming ( What does the best version of myself look like this coming year? How does my future self go about her day? How do I dress and act? What does my day to day look like?)

3. Recording ( Give measurable, numeric values for the most important goals and areas of your life.)

My personal favorite part of this process is the last one…recording what I call my “stat” list. Basically giving all the important areas of my life a measurable, numeric value.

Here are some examples of things you can start tracking from year to year;

• Number of Books Read

• Current Amount in Savings

• Amount of Debt Left

• Current Weight or BMI

• PR’s To Date

• Side Hustle Annual Profit

• Trips Taken

• Miles Ran
  

For me, growing the blog and YouTube channels are a HUGE part of my annual goals. So I have things like annual website views, YouTube subscribers and revenue, annual profit, B.Mail list members, and other trackers to measure the growth of this blog! But of course I also have trackers to measure the health of my finances along with my physical health.

Basically… customize this list to reflect what is important to YOU!

I promise, it is SO encouraging to look back on past years lists and be able to see the small progress add up to huge changes and I just know you will get so much value in your life from taking the time to sit down at the end of each year and do this little reflection and recording session.

Lifestyle Vision Board

I’m sure you’ve seen this a million times and you’ve probably tried it at least once… Making a moodboard/vision board.

The thing is, they kinda work. Not like magic where you glue it or pin it to your board and then POOOF it appears . But what it does do, is it keeps you hyper aware of where you want to take your life. Instead of wandering around doing the best you can day to day, looking at this board can keep you focused with your “destination” in mind so that you can actively and intentionally work towards it. And also re-motivate yourself by remembering what excites you.

So now that you have already reflected and recorded where you are now… it’s time to paint the picture for where you want to go this next year. And how you want to FEEL.

I know it can be hard to figure out exactly what to put on your mood board so here are some questions to ask yourself that will help you find images that truly motivate and inspire you in the right direction;

• How does your best self dress?

• What does your best self do daily?

• What does your ideal day look like? Describe it in detail.

• What goals are you reaching for this year?

• How will reaching that goal make you feel?

• Why is it important to reach that goal?

• What does your home look and feel like?

• How does your best self feel?

Find images that answer these questions so that when you look at your finished board, it will give you FAR MORE clarity than just a board filled with pretty pictures.

Bonus Tip: Keep this board ( either physical or digital) HANDY! You really want to make a habit of looking at it each day, because that’s when the magic happens! I personally love to keep mine as my computer desktop background and also keep it easy to pull up often on my phone.

Deep Clean Your Home (And Yes, Pack Up Christmas!)

Now that we’ve gotten a good understanding of where we currently are, and where we want to go, it’s time to make that fresh clean slate that we get to start from.

I know people feel VERY strongly about Christmas décor and how long they keep it up, so I will without a doubt make some people angry with this… but there is no way you are mentally moving forward into the New Year and showing up as your best self if you are still hanging onto Christmas. Period.

So when I say deep clean your home, I mean yes, even your Christmas décor. Pack it away, clean up all the tree needles, dust away all the glitter and reset your home so that it’s moving forward into the New Year fresh just like how YOU want to move into the New Year with a fresh clean slate.

Bonus Tip: Now I’m not a TOTAL Grinch! So absolutely keep it up through New Years Eve and make a tradition of putting it all away New Years Day. This way you get to enjoy all the lights and décor New Years Eve AND get to start your New Year by physically creating that clean slate in your home.

Goal Setting

Did you know the average time period people keep traditional New Year resolutions is only 36 days?

That means that by the first week of February most people have already completely given up on all the goals and dreams for that year. Why? They are too big. There are too many. And they are way too vague.

To be truly successful at making changes in the new year, you have to decide what your priorities actually are ( more than 3 priorities means that NOTHING is actually a priority), you have to get super clear on the specific results you want, and you have to break it down into actionable baby steps.

Here’s the framework for a great, actionable goal ;

• Large Goal : Include specific numbers, dates, feelings and make it personal, so instead of… “Save $1,000” it would be, “ By December 31st I will have $1,000 in my savings account to use for my trip to Hawaii”

  • Smaller Milestones : I like breaking them into monthly milestones. So for the $1000 dollar large goal, a great monthly goal would be saving $85 a month.

    • New Daily Behavior/Habit/Action : I’ll rant a lil’ more about the mindset behind this below, but this is the actual habit(s) you are going to adopt into your daily life that will make hitting those milestones and goals possible. For the same money example above, maybe you will start a side hustle to earn the additional $85 a month, or maybe you will cut back a take out meal a week to save up the difference.

Bonus Tip: Obviously you can have a strict game plan and still struggle to actually put in the work it takes to accomplish your goal. Something that has REALLY helped me to stick to what I say I want is to stop talking about my resolutions as something I am “trying” to do and instead talk about them as a given that it’s just who I am.

Example; Continuing the saving $1000 dollars example above, instead of telling friends asking you to go out for the third time this week, “ I’m trying to cut back” instead say “No thank you, I would rather eat at home tonight because I’m saving that money for my big trip”

Another example; Say you are working to improve your diet and are presented with an unhealthy dessert that you want to refuse but temptation and peer pressure is kicking in, instead of telling others “ I really shouldn’t” or “I’m trying to eat better”, try saying things like “ No thanks, I don’t eat that anymore, it doesn’t make me feel good.”

By answering this way in both examples, not only are you reinforcing WHO you want to be but you are also reminding yourself WHY you made that change in the first place. And by speaking it outloud definitively and clearly, most people will stop trying to pressure you and might even make a better decision for themselves.

Plan Ahead

Finally, to give yourself the BEST possible start to the New Year… plan.

It’s one thing to say you want to do xyz… it’s another to actually put the steps to get there on your calendar. And also, much less talked about, making sure things that will take you further away from your goal DON’T wind up on your calendar.

One of the most valuable things you can do is to create a master calendar and include EVERYTHING that is the MOST important to you. Why? So you can get ahead of your schedule instead of letting things just happen.

There are tonnnnnnnnnsss of different planners, calendars, systems and apps that can help you do this. I know it’s overwhelming but honestly you just have to experiment and see which system or combination works best for you because everyone is different.

I personally use Notion, a digital planning platform and second brain. It’s totally free for personal use, but just a heads up, it has a little bit of a learning curve. But once you get the hang of it, it’s like the digital assistant you didn’t know you needed.

However, I know friends who prefer Asana, or a Google calendar. And others who thrive with a paper planner all the way. It’s all about what works best for you and keeps you organized easily and fits into your lifestyle instead of becoming a new chore in itself. So experiment, see which system sticks and actually works for you and then use it to help you live out your best life.

I hope these little mini rituals help you get in an absolutely amazing mindset for this New Year, leaving you feeling refreshed, organized, excited and ready to become the best version of yourself.

Happy New Year!

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