"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself"
George Shaw
We in that blur of time between Christmas and the New Year.
What to do? Plan for the New Year.
I don't mean writing down a bunch of not well thought out ideas that simply seem nice to you. I don't mean mindless resolutions to satisfy the fuzzy feeling of the New Year.
What I do mean is a mindful, self-aware, inspiring, scary and exciting plan that leads to several personal successes. Think of all areas of your life: mental, physical (nutrition & fitness), social, academic, recreation, financial, contribution/legacy or career. Planning gives you a sense of direction and guides you to focus on what's important to you rather than being prone to be swayed by anything or be lazing around.
1. Declutter & Review 2020
Declutter your gadgets, rooms & mind even. Go through your things & thoughts; identify things that are no longer useful & get rid of them. Arrange the useful things.
Jump right in 2020 review with these questions I got from Ali Abdaal's newsletter:
The bare-minimum questions:
When have you felt proud of yourself in 2020? what were you doing?
If you had to teach one thing you learnt this year (that would improve one’s quality of life) what would that be?
What kept you up at night with excitement this year? Was it worth it? Would you want to do more of it?
Give-me-more questions:
How did you have fun differently in 2020?
How did you suffer differently in 2020?
What people/kind of people did you spend less time with in 2020?
What people/kind of people did you spend more time with in 2020?
What did you feel guilty for in 2020?
What 3 people are you the most grateful to in 2020 and why? How can you thank them? How can you find more people like this in your life?
What have you learnt about the way that you deal with uncertainty in 2020?
What new habits did you create in 2020? Which ones would you want to keep?
Did you feel you spent enough time with your family/significant other in 2020? How would you change this in 2021?
What things did you stop caring about in 2020?
What new thing did you spend a lot of money on in 2020?
What new thing did you spend a lot of time on in 2020?
What do you feel you’ve gotten a lot better at in 2020?
What did you rediscover pleasure in in 2020?
When you felt at peace this year, what were you doing?
Which of last years goals did you not achieve? Why did you not achieve them? Will you carry them on to 2021 and if not why?
How much closer are you to your “by this age” milestones (if you have any)? Do you find yourself caring less or more about these?
At the end of next year, if you are drastically exceeding your expectations, what would you be doing?
2.Identify what will benefit you & what you want to achieve
What is it that makes you happy?
What is God's plan for you?
What scares you but you want to do it anyway?
What will benefit your further future self/ dream life?
3.Lay out a structured plan & milestones for how to achieve (always prone to change)
How often will review my plans?
When do I want to achieve this?
What will I do periodically to achieve my plans & How often will I do it?
Who will my accountability partners be?
Create a vision board; I'll be hosting a vision board party on January 3rd, contact me via email or Ig for the link.
Guided resources for the visioning plan:
Vision Plan Webinar by Jack Canfield
3 Day Reset by Jack Canfield
Finance: Check out Clever Finance they have free resources to help with your finances all year round. Tomorrow they are hosting a live workshop session
Umm I'm lost/I need more guidance:
I want o share with you my favourite self-improvement youtube stars.
Lavendaire: She has guided exercises to help you create your dream life. She even has a workbook to help you with the beginning & along all the year.
MuchelleB's Reset series will truly get you pumped for 2021 holistically.
Erin May Henry offers unique & tactical means to plan.
Rowena Tsai also has some helpful videos.
Use Systems
With 2020's great surprise, I am suggesting a deeper way of planning one that involves building self-improving systems rather than just a task to tick off as completed. Goals tend to elicit only momentary change. James Clear the poster child for this ideology expounds on this in his article.
Both are important but I want to you ensure that when you plan for 2021 you differentiate your plans, ask your self is this a goal Do I just want to accomplish this once and I'll be content? OR is this a system? Something I think I want to do continuously?
By 2021 I think systems will help you better navigate your situations; whether it be balancing virtual school & life outside that, work & adventure, personal projects & socializing.
To help with setting up systems I suggest you watch a video by Rowena Tsai
With all this planning, be open to changes, know that things won't go as planned every time and that your plan is simply your guiding north star.
From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you for sticking with me throughout the year 2020. On January 3rd, 2021. Reply to receive the link.
Thanks for stopping by.
Never Stop Curating your best life
Y.E.N
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