The year 2020 has been interesting to say the least. There have been so many hard things such as pandemics, losses, and tensions are high. But if you take a step back and look closer, there are many good things that happened too. For me, those include important family time spent with the ones I love and a renewed focus on my purpose in life. It is so easy to get caught up in the list of negatives that you miss the present positives going on all around you.
Each year, for the past three years, I have been setting aside time to dream. I follow the Dream Guide from Jennie Allen and really like it. This guided reflection helps to review all the good things that happened in the previous year and set goals to look forward for the year to come.
Benefits of Planning
I have found that to be successful, in business and in life, it takes an effort to plan and reflect on what worked and didn’t work. I have found many benefits to planning. In the 7 Hidden Benefits of Planning written by Erin Condren, I have found these benefits to be true for my life as well:
- Planning is a major stress-management tool.
- Planning is good for your brain.
- Planning helps you achieve more goals.
- Planning can make you more productive.
- Planning saves you time.
- Planning helps you develop mindfulness.
- Planning can make you happier!
I find, that in my life, if I don’t take time to reflect on what was and plan for what will come, I float along in life with no sense of purpose.
As a small business owner, it is very important for me to set goals in my personal and business life, so that I can do my very best to create service offerings that will benefit my customers. That is what I intend to do next year. It is easy to get side-tracked by all that is going on in the world, but with a solid plan, we can still move forward and make a difference in 2021.
Planning tool recommendations for 2021
2021 Life Inventory Guide by Jennie Allen
Use this tool to reflect on 2020 and set goals for 2021. As you work through this workbook, you will ask yourself what was, what is and what could be.
Full Focus Planner by Michael Hyatt
Last quarter, I switched to the Full Focus Planner. Each day, you can map out your big 3 goals, meetings, tasks and it even has a place for daily notes.
NOTE: Each planner is for a quarter only, so there is an annual subscription with 4 planners per year.
I LOVE this planner. It is super fun and trendy and I love that you can customize it with your name and your own photos. I switched to the Full Focus Planner last quarter simply because I was looking for a notes feature on my daily planning pages. If this planner had that, I would stick with it.
I LOVE Trello. It has so many possibilities for their boards, lists, and cards which help to organize and prioritize projects. I use Trello as my master task lists as part of a hybrid planning system. I transfer my daily top 3 goals to my written planner and at the end of the week, transfer any tasks written in my planner to my Trello master list.
This post is a part of a photography blog circle featuring photographers specializing in a variety of niches. To see what the next photographer is sharing for the weekly theme, “Reflection,” check out Jessica Wasik with Bark & Gold Photography, celebrating the joy and love between Pittsburgh pets and their people. Continue to click the link at the end of each post in the blog circle until you eventually find your way back here.
Comments
You’re speaking my language today! I love goal-planning and was just reviewing my past year this morning. I am a big Michael Hyatt and Trello fan, but I’ll have to check out Jennie Allen guide. It sounds intriguing!
There are so many great resources. I’m not sure where to start. I love looking at starting a new year with a plan. Thank you!