How do you feel after Christmas is over? Let down? Worn out? Revived? Chubby? Overwhelmed?

For me, the week after Christmas is always reflective, and anticipative. I feel like the year is winding down, and It’s almost time to begin the new year.

We all know the old chime… “We wish you a Merry Christmas,We wish you a Merry Christmas… and a Happy New Year!”

The “Merry Christmas” is the easy part. But how do we best prepare for a happy new year?

A Goal Setting Blueprint That Actually Works

Preparing for another year is imperative for a contractor. And in order to do that. I’ve found it necessary to do two things: 1) Reflect on the past year, and 2) Plan for the next year. The cool thing about this, is that you can do it in July, and it still works! So, even if you are reading this in July, you can still do this.

Let me show you the exact process I use to reflect on the past year, and plan for the year to come. As we go through this together, I hope it will inspire you to do it as well.

Choose Your Location

It doesn’t really matter so much where this event takes place. What matters is that you set aside ample time to go through it completely.

I usually take at least one whole day and go away somewhere and work through this. A coffee shop. A mountain cabin. A quiet place at home. The important thing is that you cannot be distracted by work or other obligations.

Reflections Of The Past Year

This part of the process is just as important as the planning part of the process, if not more so.

This past year you’ve had wins, losses, personal growth, and much more. All these things have brought you to where you are now, and will prepare the foundation for what’s to come next year. That’s why it is so important to spend plenty of time going through this part of the process.

First of all, look at what you’ve gained and experienced.

Then, look at what needs to be released in order to make room for more.

To get started…Get out your journal, or calendar,  and go through it looking at the events of your past year.

Answer the following questions as completely as you can: Note: Modesty is not allowed here. Elaborate as much as you can.

• What are some of the successes, wins and accomplishments of the past year?
• What was the major area of growth?
• What are you most proud of?
• What have you learned about yourself and your life?
• What insights have you gained?
• What are you grateful for?
• Who were the important people in your life during the last year?
• Is there something that used to be important to you, that no longer is?
• Is there something that used to be unimportant, but now has greater importance in your life?

Time To Release

• What are your disappointments, failures and breakdowns? Acknowledge these as an opportunity to let them go.
• What events occurred that you can make peace with and let go of?
• What negative experiences and associated negative emotions are you ready to leave in the past year?
• Who are the people that you said goodbye to? Acknowledge them … and then let ‘em go, along with any negative emotional association.

The Coming Year

Choose A Theme

1. Choose a theme for the entire year. It can be “laughter” or “financial success” or “health.”…etc.  Pick a theme that resonates with you.
2. Make a commitment to yourself to weave this theme into your work, play and relationships.
3. Visualize the Year
4. Transport yourself to Dec. 31 of next year. Contemplate this for a few moments in silence.
5. Write a letter to yourself or any of your loved ones as if it was written New Year’s Eve of next year. In it, describe all of the amazing things that happened to you over the year. Include items about your career, your financial situation, your love life, your health and your free time. Make it bold and exciting to you. Feel what it would be like to have lived that amazing year. Write this letter in past tense.

Major Goals

• Pick 3 to 9 things from your letter that you most want to attract in the coming year and begin writing a plan for attaining those things.
• Make sure that each goal is constructed in such a way that it is possible to see if you have accomplished it by the end of the year. (Use S.M.A.R.T. Goals. See illustration below)
• Include each major area of your life – health, career, finances, etc.
• Do not choose more than 9 goals for your entire year. You can break each major goal apart into sub-goals. But, you do not need to set more than 9 major goals for next year.

Write Them Down

Now it’s time to write them down and publish them. No, I don’t mean publish them for the world to see. In fact, it has been proven scientifically that sharing your goals with the world has a reverse effect. Your brain experiences a release when you share it with others, which in turn, triggers the same feeling as if you accomplished the goal. So, your brain now thinks you’ve already accomplished it, and there is no need to go for it. So, the experts do not recommend sharing your goals publicly.

However, if you are like me, and you need a little accountability… Then there is nothing wrong with being open and honest with your mentor, coach or friend. but make sure that they will hold you accountable to really accomplish these goals. Otherwise, there’s no point in sharing them.

How to publish them

Calendar. You can put them on your calendar, first of all. That’s right. Go ahead and schedule the accomplishment of these goals on the calendar. Setting a due date will motivate you to accomplish your goal.

Laminated. You can print them out and have them laminated. Then you can put them up in strategic places around your life.

Screen Saver. You can put them on your screen saver. That way whenever you aren’t active on your computer, you will be reminded what your goals are.

Conclusion

Congratulations! If you make it through this entire process, you have done WAY more work towards creating an inspiring future than most people ever will.

Thinking it through. Visualizing the result. And writing them down. This all takes work. If you have done this, you are well on your way to the best year you could imagine.

I can’t wait to see you, and your results, next year at this time, and wish you “A Happy New Year” all over again.