I’m a planner! … So, the start of a new year is an exciting time for me as I spend time over the holiday period reflecting on the journey of the previous year and plan out what I want to achieve in the year to come.
Personally, I find if I don’t strategise and set some goals early in the year, at least with some idea on a timeline to achieve them, then they are probably not going to happen when I want them to.
Whilst, I fully embrace digital technology on a daily basis, I’m a paper planner girl at heart. For me, colourful pens and sticky notes is the best way to jot down all of my creative thoughts and ideas. I’m happy to share I set the timer for 3 minutes to complete this brainstorming activity to ensure I don’t discount the ‘out there’ thoughts before I have an opportunity to think through them later.
Then it’s time to get serious, assessing these ideas and making decisions on which ones are short, medium or longer term goals and mapping out some actions on how to actually achieve them. It is at this point I move away from my sticky note paper plan and move my goals into Trello, a project management app, to list out the steps I need to complete to reach my goals. There are some great project management app’s available, Trello and Asana both have free versions or if you prefer to keep things simple your calendar and tasks can give similar results.
One thing I’m mindful to remember is plans and goals may change, as life throws those curve balls at us. Despite knowing I will likely need to re-plan my goals throughout the year, I do believe it is better to have something to strive for and track against than to not have anything at all.
Wishing you all success with your planning!
Sam
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