I’m seeing that many of you have got your yearly spreads done and are getting prepared for 2020 – wonderful.. let’s join together with tips for planning to make 2020 a year that really, REALLY, works for us!

What makes a great year for you? Is it that you get a career promotion, or that you get to have more free time at home to spend with family? We are all living very different lives, so there isn’t one solution to planning that will work for everyone….or is there?

I am going to talk about just a few yearly planning tips here, but, I believe, these are tips, that absolutely apply to every human being alive. That’s a grand claim, but let’s see what you think.

TIP *1 = YOUR YEARLY GOALS SHOULD ALWAYS ALIGN WITH YOUR VALUES!

For example, if you live in Ireland, as I do, and you believe that the important thing in life is spending time with your loved ones, why oh why, would your plans for the year be…’set up new branch of business in Asia’? Hopefully, this makes sense. What I am trying to say is – that your goals should work with what you believe to be important in life. So, let’s take that same person…maybe their goal would be ….’establish a happy work/life balance’. A yearly goal should be a large step in the direction of the person you want to be and the life you want to live.

TIP *2 = YEARLY GOALS SHOULD ALWAYS INCLUDE SOMETHING PERSONAL!

I believe that, in this day and age, we are too focused on external things. Get the right job, house, car, friends, relationship, etc. We probably relate. But I believe, every human being could benefit from including a personal growth goal in their year. There is no perfect person out there, so why wouldn’t we want to clean up our cobwebs, and try to become a better version of ourselves. This in no way takes away our identity or acceptance of ourselves, it’s just about giving ourselves a little clean-up. An example goal might be …. ‘Become more forgiving of others’ mistakes’.

TIP *3 = YOUR YEARLY GOALS SHOULD BE REALISTIC!

A yearly goal is not a life goal! Please know the difference. If you are sitting down to plan a year, it is so important to realise that a year is a limited amount of time. For example, ‘have ten children’ is NOT a yearly goal. Try to be aware that a yearly plan should only include things that can be achievable within twelve months. There is a lot of thought involved in the process of realising what is realistic, take the time to see what is realistic for you in your life circumstance.

TIP *4 = OUR YEARLY GOALS SHOULD CHALLENGE US!

So, I just mentioned that we should be realistic…..that does not mean ‘stay in our comfort zone, because, that is easy’. We absolutely CAN challenge ourself realistically! We should be looking at facing, whatever holds us back, in our goal towards becoming our best us. For example, if our goal is to spend time with family, our goal might include saying “No” to overtime work. That might be really hard, because we want to please our boss, but it is really important to step outside our comfort zone if it moves us in the direction of our goal life.

How did you feel about those four tips? I hope you can see that these tips are of absolute importance. They should always be moving us towards what’s really important in our life…which is something different for every individual out there.

Please, get your bullet journal, use your 2020 goals page and start writing what you can realistically challenge yourself with, becoming an improved version of yourself in alignment with your goals.

I’ve included a couple of ideas in my 2020 planner if your wish to use them, or feel free to make your own. And, as always, happy planning bujoplanner friends. Feel free to comment or contact me with any thoughts you have, and follow my personal 2020 planning journey on Istagram, Facebook, Twitter, or here on my website, all at bujoplanner.kim

Here are some pictures of my 2020 planning pages:

{To see my available 2020 planning pages, please see my shop https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/TheBujoPlanner/tools/listings/753896771}