Peace of Mind Organizing

Taking a day (or two) for planning

24 December 2020

Every year for the past decade or so, I take a day this time of year to reflect on the past year and plan the coming year. I call it my personal retreat. (Here’s the post I wrote in 2017 about my retreat). Before this year, I would go from place to place around town (coffee shops, the library, the botanical garden, the floatation tank) for various of my planning. It was solitary and it was fabulous.

This year is different, of course. Thanks to COVID-19, I’m not venturing away from home except when necessary. So it’s up to me to translate that practice to my home. I actually started last week. I took out my Power Sheets Intentional Goal Planner (which I also used last year) and started the process outlined there. I got through the reflection part and set my word of the year. (It’s ease.) I was about to start the part where I set interim goals and put together an action plan to achieve them when I had to stop.

So today is Day Two and I’m excited. I have plenty of rooms in my old house. So I think I’ll plan to move from room to room for different activities (after I finish things like blogging, genealogy research and yoga). Here are some of the things I’m planning for the day:

• Create interim goals and action plans in my Power Sheets
• Take the Clifton Strengths Assessment, which we will be discussing this in an upcoming episode of our podcast Getting to Good Enough.
• Reflect on systems and processes I might implement to make 2021 more full of ease
• Letter a pretty sign containing my Word of the Year for my bulletin board

I’m going to sprinkle the day with some rewards for focused activity (like watching this Vogue interview of Dan Levy and taking a short walk to a neighborhood restaurant to pick up the festive holiday dinner we ordered). And I plan to be kind to myself, upbeat and productive.

2020 is a year like no other. It might be tempting to shove it aside and not reflect on the good things that happened and the lessons learned in a year of unprecedented stress. Speaking for myself, there was much good that happened this year and much that I’m proud of. Taking the time to reflect on that and incorporate it into my planning for what I hope will be a less stressful and more normal new year feels like the right thing to do this year.

If you’re able and inclined, I encourage you to carve out some time and space before the end of the year to reflect and plan. It can be an enjoyable exercise that pays off in the future.

Tagged with: goals, planning, self-care, self care

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