How to Plan Your Year Ahead - My 8 Step Process
Today I am going to teach you How to Plan your Year. This is the exciting part! What's your vision for 2018? Where do you see yourself at the end of the year? What's your focus for this year, what do you hope to achieve and create?
Today I will walk you though my step-by-step process for planning your year ahead (you can do this at any time; it's never too late! )The end of one year and the start of the next is the perfect time to take stock of where you are at. I did this process to start my year.
How to Plan Your Year Ahead: My 8 Step Process
1. Do the End of Year Review Process and close your previous year
2. Brainstorm your desires and goals for the year
3. Set your goals for each aspect of your life & a theme for the year
4. Write out your Goals & keep them visible
5. Create a Financial & Business Plan
6. Review the support you need to meet your goals
7. Create a new daily routine
8. Take Action & Manifest your Goals!
This is the simple process I used to plan my 2018 and set myself up for success.
Why do this process?
You can be the driver of your life or the passenger. Which do you want to be? Have life happen to you, or create the life you choose for yourself?
You get clear on what you really want and what the focus is
You get to take back control of your life
You greatly increase your chances of meeting your goals
You will identify what support you need to succeed
It's a fresh start - wipe the slate clean, and start over.
1. Do the End of Year Review Process
Let go of the old, capture your learnings and forgive your mistakes
I can't emphasise enough how important it is to do an end of year review process in order to clear the decks and create a firm foundation for your new year planning. Follow my process here and do this before your plan your year ahead.
2. Brainstorm your ideas for goals for the year.
Simple! Just have fun with this. Grab a journal, some chocolate and a nice tea or coffee, and allow your mind to dream and your ideas to flow!
3. Set goals for each aspect of your life & a theme for the year
I recommend creating goals in each category of your life. I like to use these categories:
Business
Money
Relationships (Friends/Family)
Love
Fun
Personal Growth
Material Abundance
Health/Fitness
Home
You don't need to have loads of goals for each category. Just 1/2 well thought through goals can be very powerful. I like to brainstorm my goals and then choose which ones I will focus on this year. Most people overestimate what can be achieved in a year, and underestimate what can be achieved in 3 years. I also have 3, 5 and 10 year plans so I just pick which goals are my focus for this year.
Action Step for You
Rate on a score of 1-10 how satisfied you are with each aspect of your life right now (the categories above).... the lowest scores will indicate the areas that need most attention. For example my personal growth score is currently 10, but love (life partner/soulmate/romance) is a 1 so that guides me to put more focus/time/energy into that area. I have less personal growth goals this year, it's more about sustaining the good practices I already have in place and going deeper with those. I always have goals in all categories, but some are high growth and others low growth depending on a given year. Now set your goals. Don't get stressed about getting it right! It's ok if you don't meet all your goals, at least you know where you are headed, and by keeping your focus on the destination you will eventually get there. Use your intuition and experience to set appropriate goals.
Setting your theme for the year
I pick 1-3 words that are the key themes for my year. This year my words are:
LOVE ELEVATE INSPIRE
These have a personal meaning for me, and also have multiple meanings. They feel expansive and exciting & inspiring to me.
Action Step for You
Look at your goals, your desires and feel into what your key theme/s are…
Is this a year that's all about launching a new business, programme or uplevelling your income?Or is it a year you'll have a baby and bring new life to your world... Or maybe it's a year of adventure, travel and exploring the world... Now of course you will have goals in all areas - family, business, money, travel etc but knowing your key themes will guide your priorities and also manage your expectations. If it's a year of exploration around your next steps, deep inner work or healing for you, don't make that wrong. Know that the deep inner transformation happens first, BEFORE the external results show. And they will! Oh my, they will... These words guide your focus for the year, and help focus the brain and guide your actions.
4. Write out your goals and keep them visible
Now you have your goals, it's time to record them in a way that keeps them front of mind.
The most important thing here is to write out your goals as if it were already true
"I am so excited to hit 6 figures in my business and I feel so proud of myself, excited and like I can do anything now! I love celebrating with my husband and friends and feeling confident, capable and happy. I had such an amazing trip to Italy we just taken to celebrate (oh, that food!) and it feels so good to have paid off my debts and have some money to have fun and go shopping. I love the amazing feedback I got from my happy clients who just love my work, and I feel so appreciated and loved!"
You want to keep them front of mind, make them as real as possible, and somewhere you will see them every day.
Action Step for You
Decide how you going to record your goals…
Put in the front of your journal
Put in the spreadsheet you use daily for tracking your finances and business numbers
Create a vision board where you will see inspiring images of what it looks like and feels like to have accomplished your goals (as if it was a present reality). Vision your new life, how you will feel and find images that represent that. Some images might be literal, and others will evoke the feelings you want to have when your manifestations come true. Source images from magazines and Pinterest.
5. Create a Financial & Business Plan
I have several spreadsheets for tracking my numbers.
A Personal Financial Spreadsheet with my personal outgoings and expenses so I know exactly what needs to come in and what it it form (money loves a purpose!)
A Business Calculator with projections for sales & revenue for the year
I'll be sharing more about this process in my new Money Programme out this Spring. Watch this space!
Action Step for You
Get clear on your numbers…
Look at your overall income goal for the year and play around with ideas for how you are going to get there (this is where spreadsheets are good because you can play around with different possibilities). Get in reality around what your outgoings are - both business and personal. I track all my accounts each week on a Monday morning and enter the balances into a spreadsheet. Don't go into overwhelm here - just do your best. If you find it impossible, or avoid it like the plague, then it's time to seek some support in this area!
6. Review the support you need to meet your goals
Now you are clear on your goals and your number goal, you can look at what support you need to get there. Coaching is incredibly powerful and with the right fit coach for you, you can accelerate your results and reach your goals far sooner and much more easily than you could on your own. See it as an investment in your Success (p.s. Nobody successful got there alone.....just saying....) Here's some ideas for ways you could uplevel the support in your life.
Home help - cleaning, household chores, shopping, errands. Those time consuming tasks that take you away from your work and business, or eat into your leisure time.
Book keeping - set up an electric system for storing and tracking your expenses and receipts and hire a book keeper to do your accounts
A group coaching programme or group mastermind where you get to build community of others on the same path which helps keep you on track and focused on your goals (My new Group Coaching Programme starts in March, more details available soon! To receive more details of when it launches sign up for my free Success Meditation here)
A private coach for powerful bespoke 1 on 1 coaching and transformation (if you can afford to work 1 on 1 do it!)
Extra childcare - for a date night or a extra day in your business.
Business training on areas you need more knowledge in, like social media, sales funnels or key skills in your profession. Online course and in person trainings are both powerful yet different ways of learning.
Action Step for You
Make a list of the knowledge, skills you need to reach your goals…
Ask yourself what extra support do you need to guarantee your success? Do you need help getting over your fears and blocks and limiting beliefs? This is the single biggest area I have found to transform my life and business. When you get support to clearing and healing what's holding you back inside you clear the path to success and receiving everything that's possible for you!
7. Create a new daily routine
We talked about BIG goals, now we are going to talk about tiny changes. Yes, the tiny needlepoint moves you make each day that add up to big change over time.
Rarely does change happen in one huge moment - moving abroad to start a new life in the sun, getting married or having a baby count as big change that happens overnight, but most transformation happens through baby steps, one after another that gradually build upon the one before.
The little tiny things you do each day matter.
Little by little, making a new decision in each moment, a little change day by day, week, by week, and a year later you're in a whole different place.Now is the perfect time to look at your daily habits, things you do every day that over time make a big difference.
Action Step for You
Review your daily routine - the things you aim to do consistently each day.
My 2018 Daily Routine consists of:
15 mins Meditation
20-30 mins Yoga at home or 30-45 mins Gym or Walking
Affirmations 3 times a day
Tracking Money Daily (income, value and outgoings)
End of Day Gratitude - 10 things I am grateful for
This may sound like a lot but I have been meditating for 25 years and on the path of self development a long time so I have built it up over time! If this is new to you, just pick one small thing to start, do it for a month, so it becomes a habit, then add a second thing in Month 2, and then by the end of the year you will have a whole new consistent routine!
Don't aim for perfection - aim for good enough.
If I do this 5-6 times a week I am happy and proud of myself, but I love meditation so much I always do it every day, because it changes how my whole day flows and I love that!When you start to see the benefits you will become more motivated to continue so do whatever it takes to get through that first month.... rewards, alarms, electronic reminders, post it notes, public commitments, supportive groups and friends...
8. Manifest your Goals!
Now you have clarity on your vision and goals, and you're excited about what you're creating, it's time to manifest! Take action now on your goals… set up appointments, make enquires, block out time for holidays, conferences, trips in your schedule. This tells the Universe you are serious about your goals. I love manifesting in meditation in a Theta State to accelerate the manifestation of my goals. In the Theta state you connect directly to Source Energy or Creator Energy and visualise your goals from that place. It's over twice as effective as manifesting in a normal waking state. In my FREE Success Meditation I walk you though how to do this. There are other Manifestation Techniques and Tools I use so watch out for my free webinar trainings and Motivation Mondays Facebook Lives where I share my processes and offer free trainings. You'll want to be on my list to receive notice of when these are happening & you can sign up here via the meditation.
Lesson for You
Learn more about Manifesting and decide what you will do each week/each day to work on manifesting your goals.
Clear the blocks and fears that are standing in the way of you manifesting successfully.
Everything you desire is possible for you (those desires are planted in you for a reason). It's your job to clear the boulders and rocks (negative beliefs) that are blocking the way. My new Programme launching this Spring will have weekly group clearings to help you do this - I am very excited about this! Success is about looking forward but also about letting go of the past and what no longer serves you, and we're going to be doing BOTH in this unique new course.
Beautiful handcrafted modern British notebooks from Note & Worth.