In truth I would have started planning 2024 a couple of months ago. The reality of life meant that as I was new in my job I wasn’t in a position to have any clear thinking on my priorities for 2024 needed to be here. But, I am kicking off the planning process for 2024 right now and I thought I would write about this as I think about how to plan an effective 2024.
There are quite a few stages to this process and exactly how I do it differs a bit each year. This is where instinct comes in. When it comes to daily and weekly planning, I follow a checklist. The further out I am looking, the more intuitive I allow things to be. Also, the more relaxed you can afford to be. I am a great believer in being in a good place to start as you mean to go on, so I would always advocate for completing your annual planning by December 31st (or whenever your planning year ends). However, if you miss that date, it’s not game over. Far from it.
How do you start planning a year?
A lot of people will say that the best place to start is to review the year that you are completing. There are numerous ideas, blog posts, YouTube videos and Notion Templates telling you exactly how to do this. Reflecting on the past is not, in my view, a good place to start. I’m sure this is different for people who are very different from me. Starting here will ultimately limit my capacity to think creatively. I do not want the creative side of my planning to hemmed in or restricted by the things I achieved or failed to achieve in the year just finished. This comes later.
So, I always start by allowing ideas to come to me organically as I go through normal life. I also consult my instincts. If I was asked the question – what should your main focus be next year? And I was only given 5 seconds to respond….what would I say?
The reason why this stage is so important for me is that often what comes to mind is an area of life that I feel needs serious attention.
What this looks like for me in 2024
A few years back I suffered a major episode of burnout, which in turn fuelled depression. There were quite a lot of things happening in a lot of different areas of life, work and other key areas that were extremely depressing, extremely stressful and hugely damaging, and not just to me. This, and this combined with some medication with hugely negative side effects, has left my physical health in a really bad way.
2024 is the year when I feel in a position to address this in a focussed way. All of my instincts are telling me to give my focus to this. Therefore, alongside one other thing, my primary focus in 2024 is going to be rebuilding my physical health. As I consider this, I will share more of the things I am intending to do as a part of this.
What this means, is that whilst there are no doubt many goals and projects I could plan to tackle over the next 12 months, and whilst not everything I focus on will be about restoring my health, having this overarching priority will provide a good steer as I consider everything else.
Then there is the creative list of ideas. This is still being generated. Not everything on here is something I will do. It is a list that includes goals, habits and routines as well as projects and tasks. It is a list that thinks about self development and lifestyle. This resource from Carl Pullein is a really good one. Again, as I start to develop this and refine, I will share more of my process of how to plan an effective 2024.
What happens next?
Once I have a clearer idea of what I want to apply myself to in 2024, then I will consider 2023 as I start to refine and clarify the plans. At this point, I am in position to consider anything that I didn’t do in 2023 – do I want to try again in 2024? Is there anything I failed at? Why did I fail? What can I learn from this? Is there anything I gave focus to in 2023 that I no longer need to in 2024?
Again, with this kind of reflection, I tend to give it free reign but there are a few things is worth doing.
- Skim over your plans from a year ago. What did you set out to achieve and focus on 2023 – how dod that work out?
- What happened to change or derail this?
- What things happened/were achieved that I want to remember?
- What obstacles did I face?
- Skim over your plans month to month and ask the same questions.
- Skim through any journal you keep and make a note of anything that seems significant
- Look over your completed projects
Doing this helps you identify things to continue into the next year. It also gives you clarity that you have decided NOT to continue/focus on other things. This is much better than simply forgetting about them.
This is the process I am following right now. This is how to plan an effective 2024. I will keep you posted.
