This year, I will be sharing my Annual Review & Planning Guide on the blog instead of in a guide. If you've read my previous blog, Getting to Know YOU!, you know how important it is to get a head start on this process, in preparation for the new energy in 2023. Getting clarity can sometimes take some time, spent in thought or meditation, journaling or scripting. So, start now!
2023 is a Soft Wood year. It's the year to fall back in love with your life. Renew the love you have for life. And start romanticizing your life.
GOALS
Goal setting tends to be focused on getting things you want or want more of. And the annual planning focuses on listing and scheduling what you'll need to do to get the things done to achieve those goals. For the real go getters and doers of the world (Earth elements) this can work very well.
However, this coming year, instead of focusing on getting more, consider shifting your attention to what you get to do and who you get to be. Being present for the journey along the way. Enjoying the days in your life, instead of living (and working) for the ideal life you'll have someday.
Journaling Prompts
Before setting some new goals, make sure you have clarity about how you'd like to spend your time, who you're spending it with and what allows you to be the most authentic and fully self-expressed. Include personal goals that have nothing to do with material things. Make a list of things that you'd like to do for yourself and things your future self will be happy you did.
Consider setting goals that are limited to actions only, instead of solely results. Focus on the details instead of the destination. An example of this is: move my body everyday in ways that I enjoy, instead of "get fit". Another idea is: shop at my local farmer's market and try new recipes each week, instead of "eat healthier".
NEEDS
What's often missing from these goal setting and planning sessions is a lack of awareness about what you'll need to have or do to actually achieve those goals. Having goals is essential to success, but if you don't have what you need to succeed, your goals just set you up for frustration and ultimately failure, no matter how many years in a row you keep setting them. So, having great clarity about what you need to achieve your goals has to be part of the initial goal setting, before the planning phase can begin.
A great example of this is starting a business to offer what you have expertise in and then finding that the majority of your time and energy is dedicated to building a website, learning graphic design, developing a marketing plan, creating free content for social media and writing blogs, email campaigns and sales pages. Some people love all that stuff and make that what they offer to those of us who would rather write, teach, coach or do session work with our ideal clients.
Only YOU know what you need. If you're single, don't take advice from a woman, married to a wealthy man who is financially supporting her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. If you're a mother, don't take advice from a woman who chose not to have kids and has no idea what it's like to have littles and be on call 24/7.
Journaling Prompts
After setting your goals, make a list of what you will need to achieve them. For some, it will be money; for others it will be time. Some will need childcare; others will need a quiet work space. You may need to take a class or course, get certified or complete a degree. You may need to move and get a new job, or quit your job and start a business.
If you don't have what you need, ask for help from the people in your life. If you don't know how to get what you need, ask your Higher Self for guidance about how to get your needs met. Until you have what you need, remove that goal from the list for now.
VALUES
The next missing component in goal setting is determining if your goal, and what you need to do to achieve your goal, aligns with your values. People often take jobs and work in industries, work with people or in environments that don't honor their values. You can only do something just for the money or the status for so long, before you realize it's not sustainable. What you're doing is an insult to your soul. You know who you're being is not who you really are. And the people you're working with are not your people.
After evaluating your goals in terms of your ability to honor your values, it's time to review them. Some people will continue to do what they're doing, even when they know it's not in alignment with their values, because it' meeting a need that they don't know how to get met any other way. If this is the case for you, make sure this need is essential and set a goal to discover other ways to get your needs met.
Life is too precious and you are too valuable to spend another day doing something that violates your own standards and is not worthy of your time and energy...even for a paycheck.
Journaling Prompts
Make a list of your core or highest values. Then, make a commitment to yourself to honor your values. Journal about anything you've done or are doing that has been out of alignment with your personal values. Forgive yourself and set the intention to honor your values moving forward.
Ask your Higher Self for guidance on the steps you can take to live in alignment with your values. Ask to be given opportunities to do more of the things and work with more people who are aligned with your values. Remove any goal from the list that requires you to disrespect yourself or dishonor your values.
DESIRES
Many times people set goals based on what they're supposed to want or supposed to have by a certain age, instead of what they truly desire. Our desires are like a compass, showing us the direction to channel our energy toward. The desires of our heart are a guidance system that reveals our life purpose and soul mission.
If your goals are not based in a heart's desire, you won't have the energy you need to achieve them. And if you do achieve them, you won't feel fulfilled or accomplished. It will just be another box to check off on your list before you're on to the next thing.
Journaling Prompts
Write about your desires. How do you desire to feel? What do you desire to do? Where do you desire to go? Who do you desire to be? What do you desire to have? Who do you desire to spend your life with? Who do you desire to contribute your time, energy and expertise to?
Make sure you have clarity about your true desires. Not what others desire for you. And not what you desire for others.
HAPPY
One of the things I learned from Alison Armstrong is the distinction between what I need and what makes me happy. Getting my needs met allows me to be at the neutral level of "fine", the state of having just enough of everything that makes my life work well. Happy is a bonus land that is founded on a state of being fine. It's everything that brings a spontaneous smile, a merry laugh, an ecstatic sigh.
Something else I learned from Alison is about choosing to do things that my future self will be happy I did. Happiness is not always instant gratification happening in the now moment. It can be, but more often, true happiness is an inside job that can be felt as a warm glow in your own heart. Happiness can be the result of time and energy you invest now to create dividends of future prosperity.
Journaling Prompts
Think about what makes you truly happy. Not joyful. Not cheerful. Not delighted. Not content. Describe what inner happiness feels like when you are happy with yourself, your life, your work, your relationships. Commit to only doing the things that you're happy to do, will be happy to have done or know will make you happy.
Then, think about what you do that results in a feeling of happiness. It's important that there are items on this list that you can do for yourself, like cooking or baking, and that don't cost any money, like walking in nature or watching a sunset. Make sure to set goals that create time and opportunities to do more of the things that bring you happiness.
FAVORITE THINGS
In addition to things that provide a sense of inner happiness, think about some of your favorite things. Favorite things can be as simple as a really good cup of coffee you take pleasure in making or drinking every morning. Or, it can be as extravagant as summering in an Italian villa every year.
Some people will do all their favorite things once a year on their birthday. Other people, like to schedule favorite things days into their schedule, monthly or even weekly. Still others make sure to do some of their favorite things every single day.
Journaling Prompts
Create a list of your favorite things. Think about your favorite local cafe or bookstore, picnic spot or hiking trail. Think about favorite hobbies or pastimes like reading novels or writing poetry, playing the piano or learning a foreign language. Think about your favorite self-care practices like your am or pm skincare routine, a hot yoga class, getting a massage, meditating in an infrared sauna or taking a candlelit bath. Think about favorite things you like to do each season or every holiday.
Make doing more of your favorite things one of your goals. Better yet, make it a goal to keep finding new favorite things you can add to your repertoire. Ask friends what their favorite things are so you can try them yourself or do them together.
Each of The 8 Elements have very specific essential needs and highest values. You may tend to set goals based on your unique Life Center because that's the aspect of your personal element that brings you the most wellbeing. Your desires are connected to your element's default or dominant emotions. Access to inner happiness tends to be based on your ability to honor your needs, balance your energy and feng shui yourself. And your favorite things will reflect a combination of your completion number, primary human expression and stage of life.
If you'd like to learn about how to honor and balance your personal energy and customize your goals, based your personal feng shui element, read about my signature coaching package, Feng Shui Yourself.
Read the other blogs in the Annual Review & Planning series:
Getting to Know YOU!
Getting to Happy
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