This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. The time between the Christmas Holiday chaos and the start of the New Year. The few days of down time and quietness. It also happens to be one of my favorite person’s birthday this week, so that is a major plus!

I love planning and setting out goals. In the beginning of December, I sit down and write some big overarching goals. This week, I take the time to really hone in on those goals. Break them down into quarter goals, monthly goals, weekly goals, and focus on what I need to do daily to get to where I want to be. Having a huge goal is a great idea, I believe it is always better to overshoot than undershoot. However, sometimes when you have big goals, it is very hard to see the progress that you are making. That is why I like to break things down into quarters, months and weeks if I need too.

Before I begin honing in on my goals for the new year, I do something called a calendar review. I read this in a book by John Maxwell, Rachel Hollis also talks about this, but she learned it from John Maxwell as well.

I am a pen and paper girl, I still hand write things in my calendar. My calendar travels everywhere with me. I also carry highlighters because I highlight the different activities that I am doing. Every activity or thing receives a different color, from work to appts to self-care, the list goes on. The reason that I highlight, is so that I can easily see where I am spending most of my time at and where I potentially need to make more time for other things. I am sure google calendar can do this even better than I can, but for me, it is all about putting pen to paper and being able to check things off. This calendar review is something that does not have to wait until the end of the year to happen, it can happen quarterly or even monthly.

As I review my calendar and think about my goals, I am looking at what I completed versus what I did not get done. (I like to put check marks and x’s by things that get completed vs. not completed). If I am noticing that my self-care activities (journaling, meditation, little things that make me happy) are not as high as I would like them to be, then I will make sure to adjust my self-care goal more for next year. If I have a specific career goal, and I see areas where I really excelled in, I will aim to do more of that in the coming year. There are times when I see areas where I really struggled, that gives me pause to think, is this really getting me to where I need to be and if not, is this something I even need on my plate.

There is something special about looking back over the year, seeing everything you accomplished and the wonderful times that you had. You could even get extra creative and put pictures in from your events. After a few years of keeping your calendars, you would end up with somewhat of a scrap book of your life over the past years.

There are all different ways to get ready for the New Year, this just happens to be one of my ways. Regardless of how you get ready, just be sure you are getting ready. It is a great time to get refocused and zoned in on what you are wanting to accomplish in life. Remember, you only get one life. Be sure you are making the most of it!

As always share some love, we could all use a little more love!

XOXOXO

Casey