Your Annual Planning Guide (+ Free Template) 🤓🗓️
The new year has started and with it a series of good resolutions.
But what is the point of good resolutions if you don't know where to start? 🙈
For anyone who is a little late and hasn't yet been able to take the time to work out a detailed plan for the upcoming year, whylab has something special: a template for free download that you can use to write down your goals for this year in a structured way.
Let's go! 🚀
Goal Setting Framework
We recommend that you consider the following two categories in your annual planning: personal goals & professional goals.
Note: Of course, you can subdivide these categories as you wish - personal goals could be divided into health, personal and relationship, for example - but we find it easier to focus on just the two main categories.
The Goal Setting Framework includes four interrelated components per main category:
Major goals
Intermediate goals
Daily systems
Anti-goals
And here's how it works...
Big goals 🏁
These are your big, ambitious goals. They should be audacious and challenging, but definitely not impossible.
Big goals represent the top of the mountain - motivating on a macro level, but on a daily micro level they may be too far away, big and intimidating to provide motivation.
Your task:
Choose 1-3 specific, measurable big goals within each main category.
Formulate your big goals clearly and write them down.
Intermediate goals 🎯
Starting from your big goals, work backwards and formulate a series of intermediate goals.
If the big goals are the top of the mountain, then the intermediate goals are the resting place in the middle of the mountain. You cannot reach the summit without passing through this place, as all paths lead directly over it.
Specific, measurable and short-term goals ensure that you move towards your big goal.
Your task:
Choose 1 specific, measurable intermediate goal for each big goal.
Write it under the corresponding big goal.
Daily systems 📝
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." - James Clear, Atomic Habits
Daily systems are key to the whole Goal Setting Framework. They are the 2-3 daily actions you should take to make tangible, reinforcing progress - the simplest daily actions you can take to make progress in an area.
If your big goals and intermediate objectives are your compass that points you in the right direction, then the daily systems are your feet that actually move you forward on your way up.
Your task:
Think about what are the simplest daily actions that will support you in achieving your big goals and intermediate goals.
Define about 1-3 specific daily actions for each intermediate goal.
Write them down under the corresponding intermediate goal.
Anti-goals 🙅🏻
"All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there." - Charlie Munger
Anti-goals are the things we do NOT want to encounter on the way to achieving our big goals.
If the big goals are your summit, then anti-goals are the things you don't want to sacrifice during the climb, such as your life or your sanity. You want to reach the summit, but not at the cost of these things.
Your task:
Turn the problem around: What are the worst possible consequences that could result from realizing your big goals? What could cause these events to happen?
Based on your answers, define 1-3 specific anti-goals for each big goal.
Track and adjust your course throughout the year 🧐
For instance, you could block out the last Friday of every month to check in with yourself.
During this check-in, ask yourself the following three key questions:
What is really important in my life right now, and are my big goals still aligned with that? This way you can put your big goals through their paces and make sure they are still the right ones.
Are my current daily actions in line with my big goals and intermediate goals? Assess the quality of your daily actions and see if they are creating the right drive. If not, make appropriate adjustments.
What do I have to get rid of in my life in order to move forward more efficiently? Evaluate the quality of your environment and see if there are any harmful habits or relationships that hinder your growth. Then make the necessary changes.
This ritual takes about 30 minutes per month and offers you the opportunity to reflect on your path every month and to correct it (if necessary).
If you want to get even more benefit from it, you should exchange ideas with like-minded people in a small group. Question each other's assumptions and give feedback. These are the best conditions to make 2023 the best year of your life so far. 🥳
You haven't found your like-minded people yet? Then register now completely free of charge for your first 30-minute whylab group coaching session and exchange ideas with our community! Click here to register. 👯
Reminder: You can download our beautiful (and free!) PDF template to print here. Feel free to forward the link to anyone you think could benefit from it. It means a lot to us to help as many people as possible have a fulfilling start into the new year. 💙