— January 16, 2024 —
Happy New Year! We wanted to kick off our 2024 with sharing some of our best practices for planning, and what’s in for this year for goal setting and planning… ‘In and Out’ lists! You may have seen them on social media, but we think they’re a great way to get reflecting and focused for the New Year.
What’s IN for us?
- Planning (but not being overly rigid with our planning)
- Giving consideration to busy times in our personal lives such as family sport seasons (e.g., Q1 is ski season!!!) and accounting for this in our planning
- “Good enough” is usually good enough
- Giving ourselves grace when life interrupts plans, but getting back on track as soon as possible
- Time for self care and wellness – exercise, reflection time, hobbies – whatever it is!
- Breathing exercises
What’s OUT for us?
- Overscheduling
- Multitasking
- Perfection (for most things – some things demand perfection)
On the topic of planning, we wanted to offer our best practice guide to planning your 2024. If you’re getting into your annual planning now, consider the following calendar and list of activities as you make your plans. Make sure to set yourself up for success by setting realistic goals and focusing on the times of the year you are most productive. Our ‘rules of thumb’ with timing below applies to many people, but not all, so tweak for yourself if this doesn’t speak to you.
| Time Period | Considerations |
| Q1 – January, February, March | Use this period to do some planning (Jan/Feb) and get started on your plans (Feb/March). Get introspective – focus on career and personal priorities for the year – diarize what you want to do, and when. Be ambitious but realistic. Perhaps create your own “IN/OUT” list to guide your behavior for the year! Investing a good chunk of time to create some plans is well worth the effort but don’t get bogged down in the details. For activities for Q1 and Q2, be specific. For activities for Q3 and Q4, remain high level to allow for your plans to change a bit based on what comes up. I know as health professionals we always want to set S.M.A.R.T. objectives but sometimes you don’t need to do that. In your planning, keep in mind what you will have going on personally during specific time periods as well as with your core job. Don’t plan for layering on too much during anticipated busy periods. Also, block some time in your calendar to get stuff done! No one will make time for this for you, you have to carve it out for yourself. During this period make sure you are giving yourself enough time for self-care. Feeling grounded and relaxed will help you be more clear-headed in your planning for the year. |
| Q2 – April, May, June | This will likely be one of your most productive periods of the year, so we recommend being ambitious with this time frame. Consider some of the activities below to keep you fresh and on your game. |
| Q3 – July, August, September | Generally this is a hard time for most to be the most productive. Try to avoid planning too much into this time period – between the great weather and enjoying the outdoors, summer holidays and events, kids being out of school (if you have them), and getting “back into routine” in September, if you are too ambitious with your plans for these months you will just end up frustrated! |
| Q4 – October, November, December | This also will be one of your productive periods of the year, but given that it is only really 2.5 months before things start winding down for the holidays, you want to make sure you are being realistic with your planning for this period. Plus, typically in late November people start getting busy personally with holiday parties and planning, so it can be difficult to stay on task. |
All the best as you venture into the year – we hope it’s productive and rewarding. Keep us posted on your journey and let us know how we can help!