New Year Planning!
Oh 2024, I can smell ya coming.
And you smell FRESH, my dear!
I started the month of December realizing this would be a super fun month getting prepared for a brand new year.
Fresh starts feel so good 😊
And if I learned one thing in my adulthood, it’s that preparation is key..
Preparing all the ingredients and tools before starting dinner.
Preparing your to-do list the night before.
And preparing your new year at least the month before it starts.
That’s where we are today.
And that’s part of the magic of December.
Besides Santa Claus of course 🎅🏼✨
Here are a few exercises to prepare for a great new year in 2024!
The Wheel of Life
Form Your Identity
Goal List
Bucket List
Theme Word
Try them all out, or pick and choose your favorites!
You can get the printable PDFs here.
New Year Planning guide available on Etsy. Shop: fit living inspired
Let’s start with #1, shall we?
The Wheel of Life
What is it?
The wheel of life is a circle graph that contains 10 layers/levels and is sliced like a pie.
The number of pie slices depends on the categories of major life areas.
To take it a little further, write out 1-3 things for each category that would mean it’s a 10 for you.
(Example: under career, a 10 for me would be to create a passive income stream, earning at least $500/week)
Why do it?
This chart lets you visually see how you perceive or rank each major life area of importance to you.
After coloring in each level, you can identify which areas of your life need a little more love and attention to feel a little more “balanced” overall.
How?
Download the chart here from the shop.
Or.. on a sheet of paper, draw a large circle with 9 smaller circles inside it, like a target.
The outer layer is a 10, the innermost circle is level 1.
Split your circle or “pie” up into the important areas of your life (relationships, health, career, finance..)
Color in to which level you rank each area.
(Example: in the health category, if you feel you’re on top of your health and feeling good, you’d probably mark it at a 6 or above; otherwise, if you feel like you need a lot of improvement and don’t feel that healthy or in shape, you’d probably rank it a 5 or lower.)
Form Your Identity
What?
This is a self-written list where you declare your life’s ultimate purpose and ideal identity or highest self to identify daily habits.
Why?
Thinking of and declaring what our life’s ultimate purpose is and who we are (or want to be) at our highest selves helps us get ultra clear on our north star, guiding our daily productivity and prosperity as well as establishing what fulfillment looks like for our own life.
When we know our clear purpose and our highest self, we set our trajectory for our everyday actions (daily habits) to persevere and stay in alignment with where we want to go and the life we want to live.
As Gary Keller says in his book, The One Thing, “Our purpose sets our priority and our priority determines the productivity our actions produce.”
When we set our trajectory and take action with our daily habits, we walk the path of our own genuine happiness and fulfillment, living our best life experience.
How?
Declare your main, driving purpose for life.
Then write a list of qualities/characteristics of who you want to be.. your highest self or potential.
After making the list, identify up to 7 daily habits that your ideal self or highest potential would do to be and maintain the qualities of that person and fulfill your purpose.
Goal List
What is it?
This is a list of your ultimate “someday” goals narrowed down to 10 year, 5 year, 1 year, then monthly and weekly goals you’d have to accomplish in order to achieve your someday goals.
Why do it?
Writing out your ultimate vision goals and then focusing those goals down into shorter time spans will help prioritize, stay on track, and plan for one thing at a time.
How?
Simply write out your biggest vision someday goals.
They should be big and a little specific (for example, “own and manage a business (big) in Arizona real estate (a little specific)”).
Then write out what goals you would need to accomplish in 10 years to be on track to reach those someday goals.
Then write out what goals you would need to accomplish in 5 years to be on track to reach those 10 year goals.
Then write out what goals you would need to accomplish in 1 year to reach those 5 year goals.
Then write out what goals you would need to do each month during that year.
Then write out what goals you would need to do each week to reach those month goals.
You can then narrow down your focus to figure out what you would have to do during your days to be on track to reach your ultimate, someday goals. 😊
Side note.. if your ultimate goals change, that’s totally okay.. that’s life!
You can use this exercise at any time to focus and prioritize what you need to do down to your days.
Bucket List
What is it?
This is a list of all the things you want to do or accomplish this year that you will use to narrow down your top 5 focus areas.
Why do it?
This will help identify all your goals and dreams for what you wish in 2024 that align with your main purpose and identity, and motivate you to live out your dreams!
When you narrow down your top items, you help yourself focus on what’s most important to you first or what would be wise to do sooner rather than later.
You take it a step further when you prioritize that list.
You’re more likely to tackle your top things one at a time without spreading yourself too thin and getting overwhelmed with all that you want to do.
How?
Write a list of everything you’ve been wanting to do or that you should do this year.
After you come up with your list, circle or highlight the top 5 that mean the most to you or that you need to focus on first.
Theme Word
What is it?
A word that holds an intention for how you want to approach your new year.
Why do it?
It’s simple.
It’s one word you can remember that holds meaning, inspiration, and direction for your new year.
(Example: connection - intending to connect more with myself, my friends, family, and others)
How?
Has a word been standing out to you?
If not, make a list of some that do, see what direction your words are leading you, and pick the one that resonates the most with what you want out of the upcoming year.
There you have it!
5 major ways you can focus, prioritize, and prepare for a great new year ahead in 2024.
What I love most about this is that it separates and clarifies who you want to be and what you want to do.
Those are 2 separate things because who you be is formed by your habits and what you do is formed by your goals you want to accomplish as that identity.
And ultimately, this is what New Year Resolutions are.. a combination of habits and goals that level up your life or simply keep you on the path of growth, fulfillment, and happiness.
I hope you have as much fun as I did with this and that it brings you even just a tiny bit of clarity to help you live your best year ever!
Stay tuned for more 😉
Stay fli!
