Happy New Year! 🥳The 1st of January. What a day. For some it's filled with optimism and excitement, for others it can feel strangely melancholic with the return to work looming and the holidays coming to an end.But one big part of the new year is setting new year's resolutions.As per my love of personal development, I did some annual reviewing and journalling this week, and thought about what I wanted to do in 2023.I like doing this stuff all year round, but the New Year does provide some healthy momentum for self-assessment and interrogation.I found a random list of questions to help me reflect on the year from Dickie Bush, a cool writer who I follow on Twitter, and tried to answer as many of them as possible.After doing that, I planned for 2023, and did it in a way I hadn't done before.Two weeks ago I wrote about the wheel of life and the three step process I'm using each week:Rate my life in each area out of 10.Think about what would make each area a 10/10.Schedule time to work towards that into my calendar.These were the 10 areas (I've adjusted them slightly):Physical healthMental healthPersonal relationshipFamilyFriendsCareerFunSpiritFinancesLearningI decided that since I already split my life into these areas, I should use them to set goals for the new year as well.I set a goal/vision in each area that I would be really happy about at the end of the year, and then I can rate it each week in my Sunday night review, which I already do, and stay on top of it throughout the year.So for each area, I wrote out a short summary about what things I'd like to achieve and what things I'd like to feel at the end of 2023.Some were really specific like money, health and skills I want to learn, others were more general vibes like my mental health.For example, with my family, two of my siblings have had/will have kids, so by the end of the year I'd love to look back and say that I spent loads of time with my nephews.It's simple, but it's something I know I want to do, so I wrote it down.Doing this in all areas of my life is incredibly powerful, it means I'm slowly generating clarity about everything that I want, and then can just go and do it.And for the final step, which really makes it all come together, I made a blank google calendar, and created what I can expect my average week in London to look like, scheduling in time for each of these areas. This way I know that I can do everything I've set out to do. This final step was a tip from my boss a few weeks ago, and I've been loving approaching it that way in the last few weeks.Of course some weeks will look different, but a lot will look quite similar.Then every Sunday night and I can evaluate and see if I'm working towards the things I said I wanted and all that stuff.There are parts of this that make me feel weird, like should my life really be that predictable that I can just plan out the whole year? Shouldn't I just go with the flow and see what life brings?Well actually, the truth is doing it like this excites me. I like knowing I'm making time for the things that matter to me, I like making progress on things I care about, I like optimising my routine to get the most out of my life, and I know I can still find space for spontaneity and randomness throughout the week.So, hopefully that's useful for some of you. It's not too late to do some thinking and planning for the year.Have a great 2023 🚀Tintin
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🎯 My New Year's Resolutions
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Happy New Year! 🥳The 1st of January. What a day. For some it's filled with optimism and excitement, for others it can feel strangely melancholic with the return to work looming and the holidays coming to an end.But one big part of the new year is setting new year's resolutions.As per my love of personal development, I did some annual reviewing and journalling this week, and thought about what I wanted to do in 2023.I like doing this stuff all year round, but the New Year does provide some healthy momentum for self-assessment and interrogation.I found a random list of questions to help me reflect on the year from Dickie Bush, a cool writer who I follow on Twitter, and tried to answer as many of them as possible.After doing that, I planned for 2023, and did it in a way I hadn't done before.Two weeks ago I wrote about the wheel of life and the three step process I'm using each week:Rate my life in each area out of 10.Think about what would make each area a 10/10.Schedule time to work towards that into my calendar.These were the 10 areas (I've adjusted them slightly):Physical healthMental healthPersonal relationshipFamilyFriendsCareerFunSpiritFinancesLearningI decided that since I already split my life into these areas, I should use them to set goals for the new year as well.I set a goal/vision in each area that I would be really happy about at the end of the year, and then I can rate it each week in my Sunday night review, which I already do, and stay on top of it throughout the year.So for each area, I wrote out a short summary about what things I'd like to achieve and what things I'd like to feel at the end of 2023.Some were really specific like money, health and skills I want to learn, others were more general vibes like my mental health.For example, with my family, two of my siblings have had/will have kids, so by the end of the year I'd love to look back and say that I spent loads of time with my nephews.It's simple, but it's something I know I want to do, so I wrote it down.Doing this in all areas of my life is incredibly powerful, it means I'm slowly generating clarity about everything that I want, and then can just go and do it.And for the final step, which really makes it all come together, I made a blank google calendar, and created what I can expect my average week in London to look like, scheduling in time for each of these areas. This way I know that I can do everything I've set out to do. This final step was a tip from my boss a few weeks ago, and I've been loving approaching it that way in the last few weeks.Of course some weeks will look different, but a lot will look quite similar.Then every Sunday night and I can evaluate and see if I'm working towards the things I said I wanted and all that stuff.There are parts of this that make me feel weird, like should my life really be that predictable that I can just plan out the whole year? Shouldn't I just go with the flow and see what life brings?Well actually, the truth is doing it like this excites me. I like knowing I'm making time for the things that matter to me, I like making progress on things I care about, I like optimising my routine to get the most out of my life, and I know I can still find space for spontaneity and randomness throughout the week.So, hopefully that's useful for some of you. It's not too late to do some thinking and planning for the year.Have a great 2023 🚀Tintin