Dear First name / Sunday Sparker
My year ends in November.
What does this mean?
I don’t run workshops in December.
I don’t work on big deliverables in December.
I say no to business collaborations (and propose other dates, of course, after the 15th (ish) of January).
Why?
December starts with my daughter’s birthday, peaks with final exams, and ends with Christmas. I usually take a few days off, mostly in the week between Christmas and the New Year, when people start recovering from the hectic running around, kids’ activities, shopping, and family fun.
Starting in December 2018 (see pictures below), I set aside one or two days just for me to sit in a coffeehouse, review the past year, and plan my new year’s goals. I bring all my weekly and monthly review notebooks from the year, along with my gratitude journals, and I start the day alone by reading them all, taking notes about the wins and challenges of the year, noticing patterns, and deciding the key themes to focus on in the new year. Here is where it gets interesting: later in the day, my accountability bestie would join me to share our goals for the new year and ask each other challenging questions to help focus and uncover what we really want. A year after that special December, I had other dear friends join me on another day to share their goals and discuss them.
Since then, Rania and I have come so far! Last week, during our weekly call, we started discussing possible dates to meet in November and December. We are pro now. We agreed that the last week of December is too late to decide on our goals; that the meetup should be for finalizing them, and it should be our second or even third meetup. That’s why we set a date to meet in November to start our review and planning process. I have missed these hangouts so much. Last year, she came over to my house because I could not take days off, and baby Basil was too young. We did another kind of value-based exercise at the time.
What about you?
You have been reading this Sunday Spark for a while now. Maybe you have been there since day one, five years ago (yes, we will turn five soon)! You know enough about your life and how busy it gets as the year comes to an end. You want next year to be THE year you do it! What is IT? You thought of it right when you read it:
Get promoted at work.
Make more money.
Improve your relationship with someone important in your life, maybe your husband or kids.
Read books.
Commit to a healthy lifestyle.
Declutter your home.
You want to do so much. But how will you do it all next year?
Don’t start planning your year in January.
You need to start planning now.
Start planning in November to start doing in January.
Stay tuned to the Sunday Spark in the coming few weeks for more tips on goal-setting.
I’m calling it! It’s the goal-setting season! Hello Goals!
