If you don’t want to do any annual planning – it’s ok. You don’t have to go by an arbitrary calendar and what “everyone else” is doing. You don’t have to have a Word of the Year or your Desire Map feelings.

Some people never make resolutions because they know they won’t follow through. They’ve had the sames goals for the past ten years. It can be frustrating and feels like a waste of time.

What’s important in a meaningful life is being off auto-pilot. If you do exactly what you did last year, you’ll get what you got last year. You will change because it’s automatic, but will you go forward or backward?

Instead of a big annual plan, you can continually check in with yourself and want you want to do, have, be and feel. You may have different desires later in the year than now. You might have transitions or life events to adjust to. But, if you keep connecting with your soul you will be guided to what’s next.

Check In

It’s helpful to have systems in place to check in. Monthly, weekly and/or daily intentions. Journal and ask yourself questions. Answering a question a week is just as good as answering a whole packet of questions between Christmas and New Year.

You may find you are focusing more on self-care or letting go or playing with a character trait than of the normal “shoulds” of the New Year.

When you connect to yourself regularly your life is more you. You aren’t charting someone else’s course, you are using your inner compass.

Creating a Check in Jar

Journaling Prompts for Self-Reflection and Self-Discovery

101 Questions to Ask Yourself in Life

119 Journal Prompts

Systems and Rituals

When you hear answers, you need to put in place systems for what you want. Put things you want to improve into your calendar and/or routine. Set reminders. Make the environment easier for you (set out exercise clothes, make and exercise schedule for the month, fruit bowl on the table.) Change one habit at a time. If you are decluttering – have a set time and use the declutter calendar.

Get Support

Join a class, an online support group, a Writer’s group, have an accountability partner. People say when they do one of my classes they get so much more done in a shorter period of time, just because of the accountability. Be on your own side with your self-talk.

Remember Your Growth

Write down your gratitudes, accomplishments, and kind things you have done throughout the year in a notebook or in a jar. Most of us forget by the end of the year and start the next year already feeling behind and unsuccessful.

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If decluttering is a thought, join the Declutter Group.

Photo by Judy

Too often when we plan the new year we are focusing on what we want, what we need, what we want more of. But, most of us could use some letting go.

What are you willing to let go of this year?

• trying to keep control
• judging yourself and others
• being inauthentic
• staying distracted by media
• resisting what is
• some possessions
• old anger and grudges
• manipulating others perceptions of you
• old ways of seeing yourself
• avoiding uncomfortable feelings
• things that constrict your life
• unhelpful patterns and beliefs
• things that weigh you down or keep you stuck
• bitterness
• blame

How free would you feel in the year to come if you let go of even one of the above? What are you letting go of?

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Need help with your annual planning? I have a Simple Annual Plan.

Photo by Neville Wootton

New Year’s Resolutions are like fun wishes.

I prefer Annual Planning so there are plans for the things I want to do. I found most of the goal setting workbooks I tried only stuffed my life with more to do’s I didn’t have time for.

So I created my own Annual Planner which along with goal setting includes time ideas and ways to simplify the year. It’s the system I use to go from goals to accomplishments.

This year I did my workbook and came up with some aspirations.

Then I played with a new online program called Trello. You can create cards, add pictures and checklists and move the cards around.

My Goals board looks like this:

When you click on a card it looks like this:

I have it set up so the dates in Trello come up in my Google Calendar. I also love my goals board because it is visual which is motivating to me.

I can’t wait to start moving cards into the done column.

Really there are only two questions you need.

1. What do I want less of this year?

Let’s see. For me, I want less TV. Less weekend working. Less Email checking. Less junk food.

2. What do I want more of this year?

For me, I want more fresh food. More nature. More music, dancing, singing, playing. More and deeper spiritual time. More teaching.

How about you?

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If you want more in depth planning, you can see my Simple Annual Planning Workbook.