Planning for the Next Year and Quarter Century

Over the hol­i­days, at the end of every year, I have a tra­di­tion to get togeth­er with friends to reflect on the biggest high­lights of the past year and to talk about our most impor­tant Self and Life goals, for the next.

From this con­ver­sa­tion, an essen­tial part of my over­all plan­ning process, comes a one-word theme to focus on and live by for the next twelve months.

This year, I’m look­ing for­ward to reflect­ing on not just the past year, but the past 25 years.

“Life is a great big can­vas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”

-Dan­ny Kaye, Actor

First, Reflect Back

Reflec­tion, prompt­ed by ques­tions on our Annu­al Review tool, is a great place to start:

• What were your biggest wins or accomplishments?
• What were your biggest chal­lenges, frus­tra­tions or disappointments?
• What were your biggest lessons?
• What do you hope to be most excit­ed, grate­ful and won­der­struck about, look­ing ahead?

Then, Look Forward

Once your reflec­tion is com­plete, use the Mas­ter Plan tem­plate to get clar­i­ty on what you want to do in in the long term for:

• Your Work Career, mon­ey and invest­ments (more about this next week)
• Your Self Being hap­py, strong and healthy
• Your Life Friends, fam­i­ly and community.

Here’s a video to walk you through how to fill it out the Mas­ter Plan.

A long list of goals is easy but nail­ing it down to the one thing that mat­ters most in your world, or your #1 goal for each area can be hard.

When you are clear on those, they can be con­vert­ed into goals for the next 10 years, three years, and one year – and then what needs to hap­pen in the next 90 days – to get you there.

If you already have a Mas­ter Plan, recrys­tal­lize your goal or decide if it’s still rel­e­vant or needs updating.

Mean­while, here are two bonus questions:

• For what you most grate­ful, from the past year and 25 years?
• When you look for­ward, for what are you most excited?

The Chal­lenge

• What is the #1 thing that will make the next quar­ter cen­tu­ry meaningful?

Resources

• Annu­al Review & Mas­ter Plan
• Quar­ter­ly Reset & Plan
• Self-Assess­ment

Oth­er Blogs

• Are You Liv­ing an Amaz­ing Life?
• Keep­ing the Main Thing the Main Thing: What’s Your #1 This Year?
• Embrace the Pow­er of Milestones