Before Planning the New Year

Take a little time to answer some questions

There are 10 questions you need to ask yourself before planning the new year.  I’m sure there are more but for the sake of this blog post, we’ll be looking at these 10.

As you may or may not know, I host a workshop every January called “A Focused Vision”.  Recently, while listening to a podcast, I heard this profound statement: “Site is what you see with your eyes, vision is what you see with your heart.”  I can’t tell you how those words filled me.  You can point to the things you see and others can see it too but when it comes to the vision you have for your life, business, career… it’s more of a, “I can show’em better than I can tell’em”, situation.

Before you start your planning the new year…

I suggest being a little reflective.  I don’t know about you, but there was a lot of growth this year for me.  Progress was made in some areas and I had to do a little pruning in others.  Sometimes we outgrow things and that’s our growth.  Maybe you’ve outgrown certain things, situations OR maybe you’ve outgrown people.  Pruning could be what you need too.  Don’t look at this as something negative though.  It’s commonly done in nature to target & remove diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, or otherwise unwanted plant material from crop and landscape plants.  In my experience, it makes your plants/life HEALTHIER!

Watch this…

video to see learn more about getting a more focused vision.  Join my community if you’re interested in attending our 2023 workshop.

Let’s go ahead and get into these questions, shall we?  

Before you sit down with your fresh new 2023 calendar, answer them to ensure you’re not carrying bad habits and limiting beliefs with you into the new year:

• Are you the person you want to be yet?  It’s so hard to fake the funk for long periods of time so it’s just a good rule of thumb to figure out who you REALLY & TRULY want to be in this life and work towards being that person.

• Are you around the right people to help you get there and hold you accountable? It’s been said that we are “the average of our closest friends”.  If you want to improve your emotional quotient score, get better friends.

• Are there any activities you need to eliminate from your routine? Any Habits that need breaking? Habits are made up of 3 basic elements:

1. 1. 1. Cues
      2. Routines
      3. Rewards

To get closer to achieving your goals next year, you may need to make some adjustments to the way you react to the cues/triggers.  If the routine that follows those cues is unhelpful or detrimental to reaching your goals CHANGE THE ROUTINE!  Additionally, you can adjust the reward to make changing the routine easier. I love desserts.  I love especially love desserts when I’m stressed or having a bad day.  The sugar comforts me. My cue was the bad day, my routine is was to eat sweets and the reward was a relaxed feeling.  I had to change my routine or I wouldn’t fit into my jeans. When I felt the stressors of the day, instead of reaching for the sweet treat, I took up yoga and other forms of physical activity. My reward wasn’t quite the same, but I felt proud of myself instead of disappointed in myself.

• Do you need to do something different to get a different result? If so, What? & Why?  You can’t continue to expect amazing different results when you continue doing the same thing over and over.  Once you’ve recognized & acknowledged (acknowledgement is SOO important), decide what part of your plan needs to change and make sure you understand WHY it needs to change to be sure the change will make a difference.

• Did you notice anything new about yourself this year that could improve your efforts next year? Sometimes you don’t know things need to be done a certain way until you’ve tried them for a while.  I realized that, though digital calendars are great for telling me WHEN something needs to be done, I prefer to WRITE DOWN the things that actually need to get done in the time block I designate.

• What are your triggers (things that could derail your focus)?  Don’t just identify the triggers, it’s also important to have a plan to overcome them.  It’s easy to lose focus or procrastinate.  The key is having a plan of action to get back on track.

• How will you stay motivated?  What makes you want to keep going when it would be so easy to stop and give up? When I think about giving up I’m always faced with the possibility that success is just around the next corner.  I would hate to miss out after all my hard work.  I also want my daughters to see what hard work gets you.  Find what makes you feel like quitting would be a huge mistake.
• What DO you want to accomplish in this new year (8 TOPS) Don’t just look at what you want NEXT YEAR but how that plays into an overall 5-10 year plan. Think about it like a piece to a bigger puzzle.
• How will you keep track of your progress?

I love HAPPY PLANNER, ASANA, and I’m going to try POWERSHEETS this year (I’ll let you know how it works out).  I’ve been planning the new year FOR YEARS… One thing for sure, it’s easy to wonder off your path if you don’t keep track of where you’re going.  The numbers matter so look at your analytics and monitor your weekly activity.

• Are there any personal events to consider in your planning? Last week I published a video about 6 blocks of time EVERY calendar should have.  Don’t forget to populate your calendar with important family/personal activities before you start planning your new year.

Okay, that does it. Once you answer these questions, you’ll be ready to start planning the new year!

For more CEO MINDSET inspiration, listen to my podcast!! The C.E.O. Mindset!!!

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