With the new year, now’s the time to review the year that was and plan the year ahead.
What about having New Year’s “revolutions” instead of resolutions, our friend Lisa asks?
That’s really what Intentional Life Planning is all about. We’ve all heard about how New Year’s resolutions aren’t always followed through on, which is why we designed our process using SMART goals, action plans, calendarizing, and hanging your life plan timeline in your home.
And Intentional Life Planning can lead to New Year’s revolutions! As one of our workshop alumnae wrote last month, this process helped she and her girlfriends “unlock our innermost dreams and some of the interior barriers we have put in our way. I am so blessed to report that in the last two months four of my BIG goals have come true. I truly believe in the power of owning your dreams and putting them out into the universe! Tomorrow I embark on a great new job and can’t wait to dive in!”
That’s a revolution indeed.
Here are some suggestions for updating your Intentional Life Plan for the coming year. If you don’t have an Intentional Life Plan, now’s the time to develop one!
1. Reflect on the Year that Was
- Look at your Intentional Life Plan and what you accomplished last year. Check off life goal Sticky Notes that you achieved. Celebrate what you did!
- Create a bulleted list of your highlights from last year by going back through your photo library and writing down all of your key moments. (By the way, two of our Intentional Life Planning workshop alumnae suggest making an annual calendar with your month-by-month highlights from last year on the corresponding months so you can remember throughout the coming year what you were doing a year ago.)
- Go through your diary or journal for the year, as well as your calendar, to add other key moments. Think back to other important events, milestones and personal/work/family accomplishments you might have missed, and add those.
2. Assess
- Relish what you accomplished and feel the moments you had! Talk to your partner, spouse, best friend or yourself about what you see.
- Reread your life goals from last year. Which ones are remaining, and what blocked you from accomplishing them? Do you want to move them to the coming year or another year? One of our workshop alumna moves her life goals that are no longer relevant to the bottom of her Intentional Life Plan just so she can go back and think about them.
- What crossed your mind during this look back about what you want to do with your life ahead? Did anything get your juices flowing or your heart fluttering?
- Pause and take time to reflect: How’s your life going? Is this the life you want? Go back and reread some of the questions in Step 1 “Uncover Your Life’s Wishes” on page 18 of “Write, Open, Act.”
- For those 60+, check out the “Special Instructions for People 60+” on page 52 of the workbook.
3. Plan
- Add life goal Sticky Notes you want to achieve in the coming year and beyond. Evaluate your new life goals and whether they meet the SMART goal formula.
- Prioritize your life goals for the coming year. What do you want to do in each quarter? Create action steps for each life goal. Discuss with yourself or your partner.
- Go through each goal and make it actionable. What is the first step? Second? Third? Who does what? When will you start? This is key: If your goals aren’t actionable and don’t have steps, they won’t get done.
4. Systematize and calendarize
- Add your goals to the tools you use to keep track of your monthly or daily tasks/goals.
- Schedule on your calendar a repeating monthly appointment to review your life goals. Invite your best friend, spouse or partner to join you in your planning.
- Add the further changes you’ve made and update your Intentional Life Plan.
We humans are such a resilient species—we can always keep striving to improve and live our best lives on this planet.
Order your copy of “Write, Open, Act: An Intentional Life Planning Workbook” today.
Have a fantastic year, and enjoy your next trip around the sun!
