How to take stock and plan for the new year

It’s the 27th of December and after the whirlwind that was the month of December, I’m finally settling down to pen down my last blog post of the year. December kicked off with a very busy and overwhelming schedule at work, looming deadlines, work Christmas parties, and then I took some time off to travel for the holidays and numerous celebrations I had. The days that have followed these celebrations have just been filled with me prioritizing rest as much as I can, and slowly getting into reflection mode as the year ends. 

One of my major goals of this reflection season is to assess the concluding year and to finalize my plans/goals for the coming year. In December 2021, I published this article on how to set goals and achieve them. You can go back to read that piece for tips that could guide you in setting your goals. However, because I am always learning, I have refined my process and have a better framework which I follow for my yearly goal setting. 

In this article, I’ll be sharing this refined framework which I have used to set my goals for 2024, as well as how I assess/take stock of my 2023.

How to assess your year

1. Year recap: I begin my year assessment by analyzing the ending year in a year recap. Previously, I would write a yearly review (split into life and career highs and lows separately) which I used to share publicly on my blog. You can check out my 2019 and 2020 End-Of-Year (EOY) review articles. Although, recently, I haven’t been sharing my yearly recaps publicly, I still do them personally. However, I now do this recap in terms of habits and systems that worked/didn’t work and not just results/outcomes. I also make sure to acknowledge things outside of my control and things in my control. I break this recap into subsections of my life; for example, career, relationships, finance, hobbies etc. 
2. Breakdown of yearly recap: Because a year is quite a long time, and I actually plan my goals on a quarterly and then monthly basis, I further split my yearly recap into quarters and months. After splitting into the smaller time periods, I list out what worked (the good), what didn’t work (the bad), and what was out of my control totally (the ugly). Then, I round off with the achieved goals in that quarter or month. I also maintain a personal brag sheet throughout the year, not just for my work/career, but for my life generally, which I update frequently. This way, I’m not forgetting any major points when I’m doing the full recap at the end of the year.
3. Gratitude: Gratitude is a very important attitude to have in life. I say it is an attitude because I don’t think it’s just a task or thing to do, but a mindset. I’m a Christian, and it is also instructed in the Bible to always give thanks. Gratitude not only shows your appreciation to the receiver, it also helps you to stay in perspective and not take a lot of things for granted. The end of a year is a perfect time to not only thank God for the past year, but also appreciate and express your gratitude to people that have been with you through the year. You could send gifts to them, if you have the means to, or send a simple text, email, or put a call through. 
4. Questions to ask yourself: I conclude my year assessment by asking myself some questions to really reflect on how the year went for me. These questions are random, and more unique to my personality, goals in life, focus areas, and areas I’m consciously working to improve. Some journals could also provide prompts which could guide you.
   I’ll share some questions that you could attempt answering yourself below:
   • Describe this year in three words?
   • What were your best moments in the year?
     • What were the exact feelings surrounding these moments?
   • What were your worst moments/experiences in the year?
     • What were the feelings around these moments?
   • What are five lessons you learned this year?
   • List seven people you are most grateful for? Why?
   • What worked in this past year?
   • What didn’t work?
   • What would you like to do better in the coming year?
   • What would you like to keep doing/doing more of in the new year?
   • What would you like to stop/reduce doing in the new year?
   • What is your theme/proclamation for the coming year?

Planning for the new year

Building on your set theme for the coming year, your goals have to follow the same direction. This is where planning for the new year comes in. As I mentioned in the year assessment section, I assess my year based on habits and systems, and then the outcomes. I apply this same principle when planning for the new year. I don’t just set goals for the year, I also set the systems to be implemented for these goals.

Tips to set you up for success in your new year goals

1. Goals and systems: I first break my year into quarters, based on the principles shared in The 12 Week Year book, and set my expected goals per quarter. For each goal, I go ahead to define habits and systems I need to set in place for these goals to be actualized. Goals are nice and fancy, but it is really the day-to-day systems that set you up for success. For example, say you would like to get a car at the end of the year and it costs about $1,000. That is a goal you set for Q4. However, if you do nothing about that goal, the year could end and you still wouldn’t have that car. Or worse off, if it is really a necessity, you might have to go into debt desperately to get the car at the end of the year. Now, if you decide to create a special long-term savings account for this goal, preferably in a High Yield Savings Account (HYSA), and contribute about $100 a month; by the end of the year you would over $1,000 to get the car you need. The good thing about a HYSA is that the interest rate is usually a lot more than the regular savings accounts, and you get some flexibility, with your money not locked up for a long time. I currently use Marcus by Goldman Sachs for my HYSAs which offers me about 4.5% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) as at December 2023 compared to 0.01% I get from my regular savings account. You can sign up on Marcus using my referral link for an extra +1% APY for the first three months. This is an example of how systems set you up for success.
2. Building momentum: Another essential aspect for me in setting me up for success with my goals and plans for the year is building momentum. This is especially important if it is a new goal, something really challenging, or something I’m not used to. I look at goals as the peak of a ladder, and our habits/systems as the ladder rungs that get us to that peak. It almost makes no sense to have never climbed a ladder before and expect to immediately jump to the peak skipping all the rungs. You might touch the peak, but you might crash and crash really badly. So, using the rungs to get to the peak builds up your muscles and muscle memory of the route to this peak.
   
   What this means for me is that I stagger (progressively increase) my habits leading up to my goal to build the muscles I need for actualizing that goal. Let’s take an example of setting a goal to learn to swim by the next summer. Because you’ve never swum before and this is a new habit, if you decide to sign up for swimming classes everyday for 6 months, that might tire you out rather quickly and you would fall off your goal. However, how about you introduce your body and weekly routine to the habit of swimming classes first, before committing to a lot of hours per week? Say, you sign up for 2 days of lessons per week for 2 weeks, to get used to that routine and to even confirm that the swimming school works for you. Then, you can  increase that to 4 days a week, and then to 6 days a week, as you keep getting more comfortable with swimming.
   
   This is also applicable in almost any new thing you’re trying out – a new fitness lifestyle, a healthy routine, learning a new skill, new language, trying out new food, I could go on and on. I usually compare this to a child learning to walk. Ideally, a child learns to sit first, then crawls, then stands, then walks with support, then they take their first unassisted steps, then the child begins to run, jump, and do a lot of advanced locomotive moves. While there are a few exceptions, and some children skip or rearrange some of these steps, if this is a path you follow, it is perfectly okay. When a child is learning to walk, they will fall a few times. This does not mean that they’re “bad at walking”, or “walking is not for them”, it simply means that they are just learning to walk at that time. 
3. Consistency: Again, tying back to the scenario of a child learning to walk. Yeah, they might fall a few times, they might even bruise their skin, but if the child keeps trying, they will learn to walk properly. This is the power of consistency. You cannot only rely on motivation, or when you are in a good mood, or when you have the energy. You have to constantly keep up with the habits/systems you have set up for yourself to reach your goals. There is no constant definition of the frequency that consistency looks like. It is unique to you. It could be once a day, once a week, or even once a month, whatever you decide for yourself. However, the important thing is that you maintain that frequency and always show up for yourself as needed.

Conclusion

In this article, I shared some tips that could guide you in assessing your year and planning ahead for the new year. I hope this helps you take stock and sets you up for a more fulfilling year. In all of this, while goals are great, life also has its plans which could be different or even better than we planned. Checking in from time to time throughout the year to course-correct or adapt where necessary is also important. 

I hope this article can also help you during these check-ins as this assessment and planning is not strictly for the year ending, but can be utilized anytime of the year. As usual, if you have any suggestions, comments, questions, or article ideas, please drop a comment below or send an email to: contactaniekan at gmail dot com. 

Thank you for reading and I wish you a happy new year! 

Cheers to 2024!!

Aniekan.

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