Each year in November and December, I spend about three total days planning the following year. I have a specific process for each day, a set of tasks that I work on with a few weeks between them, to really get the most out of the preparation time.
This year I am honing my process so that I can offer it to clients, friends, and followers in 2014. It is something I have worked tremendously hard on over the years, and examining it from this new perspective has been empowering! This review allows me to get a fresh perspective that may help someone else plan for and get the most from their upcoming year. I certainly know that it works for me.
My first step in my process is to review. I review 2013 and look back, month by month, at what happened. I answer some basic inventory questions like: Where did I grow? Where did I fall back on my old ways? Where was I challenged? Where did I find success and where was I left wanting? Where am I? Where do I want to be?
This review flows into a gratitude letter. I write it, literally, “Dear 2013″… then follow with a summary of the year and my thoughts and feelings about what happened or didn’t happen. This process has a profound impact on me. I put the letter in my binder and over time it creates a nice annual journal I can review to really see how God’s blessings and faithfulness have unfolded in my life.
I also review my life intentions. I create four intentions (physical, mental, social, and spiritual) for my life. I am not really a bucket list kind of girl. Sure, there are things I would love to fit in while I am here, but I really have been so blessed that I am content with where things are. There isn’t a list of things “I just have to do before I die”. Life “goals” are hard to qualify, so I consider these things intentions. Things I hope are true about me when my loved ones gather to celebrate my life and lay me to rest.
I also prayerfully consider my long-term intentions and make sure that they are still right for me as I move forward. Sometimes they need “tweaking”. Once I have them tweaked, I print them and add them to my binder.
When I start the actual planning day, I have completed my vision board, my letter to the passing year, my inventory, and I have reviewed my life verse, my life intentions, and my long term intentions. Often, from this and time in prayer around it, I have chosen a new verse for the New Year. If I have not yet, I also spend time choosing a verse from the Bible as a focus for the coming year.
It really is a process… one that helps me ground, focus, and approach the New Year from the best foundation possible.
What is your process for annual planning? I would love to know!