A new year is a fresh start. I think we could all use that as we leave 2020 behind. So what plans do you have for 2021? What would you like to accomplish? It’s time to look forward!
For goals big and small, it helps to organize your thoughts, to figure out what you really want and how to keep yourself on track. What better way to do that than with some visualization? No artistic skills required! Read on for a few simple but rewarding ways to get inspired for 2021.
Map Your Goals
On an index card or piece of paper, write 2021 large in the middle.
For each area of your life in which you have goals this year, draw a line out from the middle. Write a descriptive word and maybe a small icon. You could make branches for things you want to be, do or have this year, or for areas such as body, mind, heart, and spirit. Let your intuition guide you and just get it all out.
As you make this high-level overview of all your goals, pay attention to which areas are overloaded with goals and which don’t have any.
After you’ve gotten everything on the page, select the most exciting, important or critical goals and re-draw your map to reflect your new focus.
Post your final map somewhere you can see it and it will inspire you throughout the year.
Prioritize projects with the $100 Test
Play this game to sort out how to invest your resources. You can do this on your own as a personal exercise, with your partner, or with a team.
You need:
A list of items you’re prioritizing along the left of one sheet
Columns labeled “$” and “Why”
Now, imagine you have a total of $100 to spend on the list of items. The dollars represent importance of items, and you have to decide how to divvy up the $100 across the items on the list. Using this “false scarcity” helps focus wants and needs.
Jot a note about why each item was assigned its relative dollar amount.
Don’t let the literal costs associated with items on the list distract you — focus on the relative importance of the items to each other.
I adapted this exercise from one in the excellent book, GameStorming by Dave Gray and Sunni Brown.
Open Up Your View with a Wheel Calendar
The Idea Shapers by Brandy Agerbeck has a course called Draw in Your New Year.
Draw the largest circle your page will allow (or print this pie chart image and create a blank center with a mailing label, white-out or by gluing a small blank circle in the center).
Write the year and sketch a little avatar of yourself in the middle.
You can create tracks for each area of your life (work, family, health, etc.) and note important dates as needed. If some activities or projects are seasonal, you can show them as an arc across several months.
If you really like this method, check out this gorgeous round wall calendar from the Round Method.
Color Your Goals
One of the weaknesses of being human is we tend to forget pretty quickly just how far we’ve come. By making our progress visible, we give ourselves a motivational boost by seeing just how much we’ve done and how far we still have to go. When we’re keeping up the effort, we want to keep our chain unbroken.
You can easily make a fun habit-tracker. Simply draw some loose, organic shapes (about 30) on a page and fill one in each time you take the desired action. A big, colorful poster like this one from Poketo can make it extra fun.
If you want to create momentum by taking an action every day, download this free 30-Day Challenge tracker from Austin Kleon, or buy yourself this beautiful journal to see your progress unfold.
Cheers to a healthy, happy and productive New Year!
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