I’m composing this earlier in the week, though that’s not why I chose the title that I did. When this goes live, it will be Sunday, December 17th, and I am looking at time off until the turn of the year.
This was planned – in fact, even necessary. If you don’t use it, you lose it is the stance that dayjob holds. All that is to say that there’s nothing wrong that’s causing me to take that fortnight off work.
I don’t know why, but in previous years, I’ve tried to cram all of my reflecting on the year gone by in the final days of said year. Ok, I do know why. I just haven’t prioritized it. You can call it by other names, but ultimately, that’s what is is.
This year, I’m going to come at it from a different direction. I’ve got two weeks and a bit of change to think back on 2023. To go back through the calendar, search my memories, and really get down and roll around in the history of the past three hundred and sixty-five days.
That, I think will be the first week to 9 days. The rest of the time I’ll spend taking the lessons of the past year and forming a plan for 2024 – bearing in mind that there’s going to be some pretty significant changes coming up about halfway through (No spoilers), though despite that, I don’t think the overall plan will change much. As Professor Damian Hughes says: Be more rigid with your goals, but be more fluid in how you get there.
That’s a paraphrase. Primarily because I think that goals should be stiff-ish, but not absolutely rigid. I have more to say on that, so stay tuned.
But you can’t plan out a year in a day. Oh, I’m sure it’s possible, but it won’t be my head doing it this year. This year, I’m going to do my yearly planning like I do my ribs:
Low-and-slow, baby. With a carefully blended mix of physical, mental, and spiritual development as a rub (Don’t be stingy with the rub. Give both sides of your ribs a lot of love with that stuff).
Be patient, be honest, be non-judgemental. What happened, happened. let go of what doesn’t work for you any longer, and bring along what does. Make a plan. Lay out the small, sustainable steps you need to get there and take that first step. You’ll be glad you did.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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