A Simple Yearly Planning Ritual That Takes Less Than An Hour

Despite what it looks like, I’m not one for complicated systems.

And while I admire all the people who can put their head down for days and go through long yearly reviews & planning rituals, that is not for me.

So I Developed My One-Hour Yearly Planning Ritual:

Infuse It With Intention. I do very little concrete planning. Instead, I prefer to set intentions that give me direction & focus for the year ahead.

Choose A Word. I’ve been choosing a word of the year for about 7 years now. It’s like a theme I can keep front & centre to focus everything.

Visualise My Ideal Day. This is one of my favourite exercises. I sit quietly with my eyes closed and I visualise what an ideal day would like like if there were no restrictions. Where I would be, who I would be with, and what I would be doing? It’s not a goal to attain, just a an awareness of what’s important.

More/Less List. I do a simple list of things I want more of and things I want less of. It’s a great simple practice to start to build new habits or practices (or remove bad habits).

Goals & Practices. Here is where I get a bit specific. I think about some loose goals I want to accomplish. Then I choose a practice I can focus on that will make that goal feel easy to hit.

Vision Board. Once I have an idea of how I want my year to look, I design a vision board on Canva with images and words that inspire me to live out that life. This makes the whole thing visual & lives on my laptop wallpaper all year.

It’s simple, effective & joyful. What about you? How do you plan your year?

If you want to use my same ritual, you can download my ‘Design Your Perfect Year’ Notion Template Here.