389 Holly Worton ~ How to Plan Your 2021 When the Future Feels Uncertain

Transcript 

Holly: Hello adventurers and Happy New Year! Welcome to the Into the Woods podcast, episode 389. This is your host Holly Worton and I am back with another solo episode.

Today, I am continuing with the theme of the last couple of episodes, which is about wrapping up the old year and giving yourself credit for what you did achieve, even though we had such a weird year in 2020. And today we are going to talk about how to plan for your New Year, all of the projects and goals and adventures, and all the fun stuff that you want to do, even in a world where there is still a lot of uncertainty.

So, what are we going to learn today? I am going to ask about how not to do your New Year planning because – despite the fact that I wrote a book on this and this great workbook that is the system I use every year to plan my own years – I f***ed it up. So, I am going to talk to you about what I did wrong so you can not do that, what to do instead and how to plan an exciting year full of adventure and joy, when it is really hard to plan. Stuff is still up in the air, I was looking at my calendar for this coming week and I am supposed to have my third weekend of my wildlife trailing course this weekend, but we are still in Tier 4 as I record this, and West Sussex has also moved into Tier 4 over the holidays, so I don’t think it is going to be able to go ahead unless things change. But who knows? because they could change, because stuff keeps getting updated for better, for worse, all the time.

So uncertainty. How to plan? Let’s talk about it.

So let me start out with how not to do your New Year planning. So I had a weird holiday season, I am on the other side of it now, because that’s why I can talk about this to you. I was kind of avoiding talking about it when I was in the middle of it because that’s really not the place to be sharing my crap. We got some news, not too long before the holidays, about a week or so, that one of our really long-term clients, that we have done work for the last seven years, is probably not going to be working with us anymore. They had a major management change about a year ago and things have not gone as planned, so they have halted a lot of their projects, including the projects we work on with them. So the day this comes out live we have got a call with them to see exactly what is happening, but it really felt like doom and gloom when I got the news. And Agustin was kind enough to give me the news after I returned from my workcation that I was able to do in December, before we went into Tier 4, but it was like a bomb dropping because I came back from my workcation just on this high, I had finished my Business Intuition book and I had finished the workbook, I had finished putting together The Year You Want, in Spanish… what else had I done? I don’t know, I had wrapped up all of these publishing projects, I got such a productive workcation, I got such a lot done and then ‘boom’, I got the news. It really felt like crap.

Luckily we made a move and reached out to a bunch of former clients, we have got three new potential clients lined up, and we are really excited about the new things that we can work on with people – and that’s great. But, it added to the uncertainty that I was already feeling from the year. We had this steady thing, we were doing great work for them, everything was great and then ‘boom’, more uncertainty. It just really threw me for a loop and the first week of the holidays I just wasn’t feeling that great, this week I have done better, partly because I just stuck my head in a couple of books, in part because I wanted to escape from reality, and in part because one of my goals for the year, one of my plans for the years, was to read 40 books. Every year on Goodreads I set myself a goal for how many books I want to read, and it was down to the last week and I hadn’t quite got there and on New Year’s Eve I finished my 40th book. So I kind of took my head out of reality and put it in a couple of novels and that was great and so I am feeling better now. And then yesterday I went on a 40k walk which was fantastic, it was a really, really, good walk.

So I am feeling better – and now I am in the place to do my New Year planning; but when I was in that kind of crappy place, a few days ago, I think it was last week. I decided to do my New Year planning knowing that it wasn’t the right time to do it and knowing that I needed to wait. But I was just not feeling well emotionally, and I wanted to feel better and I thought the planning would make me feel better, but it didn’t, it was the total wrong thing to do. So, I started out by following my system, in my book, The Year You Want, and I reviewed the previous year, I had started doing it and kind of did more of it and wrapped that up, so that was good, but I just wasn’t feeling good, I was in a really negative mindset, I was feeling really down. Do you know what I didn’t do? I have this whole process in the book that before you go into pulling your oracle cards for the year and before you go into planning your goals for the year, you do this dream: your ideal day, your ideal week, your ideal month, your secret goals that are so big that you don’t feel comfortable telling people – you really dial up that energy of what you would really like to have, what is your ideal lifestyle. I didn’t even go there, I didn’t even do those parts of my book, I skipped them and went straight to pulling my oracle cards for the month, because I was feeling so crappy, I thought: I just want to know what is going to happen or what the possibilities are, and I went straight there. Why was that a mistake? That was a mistake because, again, I was feeling down, and I was in a negative mindset, and I wasn’t imaging the possibilities, I wasn’t imaging all of the wonderful things that I wanted to experience. I was just stuck on how crappy I was feeling, and I wanted it to be better.

So I pulled the oracle cards and some of them were okay and some of them were really crappy. And so I just thought: god I just wanted to feel better and now I am worrying about the New Year and part of me knew that I wanted to do it over, but that is something that I am a little bit worried about because years ago there was this one year where I was pulling the cards and I did it properly, I was in the right mindset, I pulled my 12 cards for the year, plus one for the overarching theme for the year, and there was one card that I didn’t like and I pulled that card and thought, ‘ugh I didn’t like that’ and so I put that back and I pulled a new card. The new card that I got was something really weird, it was something like ‘make music’ and I thought: I am not a musical person, why did I get this card? And I knew that I got that card because it was so ridiculously off, that I feel like like the energy or my system was trying to tell me that it was the original card and not this card, obviously. But I stuck with the new card even though it didn’t make sense and when that month rolled around the theme actually related to the first card that I didn’t want to accept. So I am wary about doing a do-over with oracle cards but I was aware that I didn’t pull them when I was in the right state of mind and I was talking to my friend Joanna Hennon about this, who teachers a lot about how to use Oracle cards, and I said: look, I was in a really bad mind place when I did this and she was like, ‘do it over’, the cards that you pull are going to reflect the mindset that you are in, or the state of mind you are in, when you pull the cards, so get in the right place and then do it again. So that’s my plan, I haven’t done that yet, but that is the plan. So that’s what I did wrong.

So what should you do instead? First of all, make sure that you do your year end review, make sure that you have wrapped up the previous year, make sure that you know how you feel about that year, make sure you know about what you want to leave behind before you move into the new year, make sure that you know what you want to take with you moving into the new year, in terms of plans, projects, goals, things that you might not have achieved. And make sure that you are feeling great, make sure you are in a positive mindset, and make sure that you dream big about all the possibilities, even if they don’t feel possible because of lockdown, because of Covid, because you are in a crappy state of mind. Make sure that you dream about what you do want, even if it doesn’t feel possible, dream big, just give yourself permission about what you really, really, want, because if you don’t even give yourself the time and space to consider those possibilities it is really not going to happen; but if you do give yourself the possibility to imagine those possibilities they might happen, if you take action to achieve those goals and plans and projects.

So really the dreaming big and being in a positive mindset is such a huge part of the planning process. And I am actually really glad that I f***ed it up this year, because now I can talk to you about this and make sure that you do it right, so that you don’t make the same mistakes I made {laughing}, which is why I do a lot of the work that I do, my walking books that’s one of the reasons that I write them so other people can avoid my mistakes because I make lots of them! So make sure you are in the right space and make sure that you dream big, that is the biggest piece of advice. So I am going to go back, and I am going to revisit my book again and redo all of the New Year plan. It was so difficult, I already had an idea of some of the goals I wanted to achieve, I had already planned out the books I wanted to write this year, but my heart wasn’t in it and it was so awful. So be in a good space and then plan.

However, even though it is a New Year, and we are still in Tier 4 where I live and it is pretty much lockdown and there is still so much uncertainty, so I think it is important to make a plan b, c, d, e – as many side plans as you want. So how do you do that? You need to figure out why you want to achieve each goal or project or plan you have. What do you want to get out of doing it? What result is it going to give you? How is it going to make you feel? Why do you want to have that experience? And then you need to figure out what else would give you that result, feeling or experience?

So for example, I had to re-plan a lot of things this year and I have told you this story a thousand times, so I am going to keep this brief: the Camino Portuguese, I was planning to walk in the second half of March this year, the day that I was planning to fly out, I cancelled it because of Covid. What did I do instead? I went on a camping trip which was absolutely glorious, it is something that I want to revisit, I want to revisit some of those places that I went, and it really helped me get through that first lockdown. So, when I was sitting at home trying to figure out what I wanted to do instead, I realised I wanted to go walking, I wanted to be outdoors, I wanted to spend a lot of time in nature, I wanted to be alone, I wanted to have that kind of retreat feeling, outdoors retreat feeling and I ended up doing that camping trip and I ended up walking 150 miles that week which is exactly what I would have done if I had walked the Camino Portuguese, so that was perfect.

Later that year, I was planning to do the Camino Ingles in September/October-ish and we were out of lockdown by then, it was kind of in between lockdowns and people were starting to travel, but I really didn’t want to travel – I still do not feel like getting on a plane at all. So I thought, what can I do? I can walk something local, so that’s when I walked the Ridgeway for the second time and I had been planning to walk the Ridgeway this year, in 2021, but I decided to bump that up and do that instead. I just got online, and I booked everything, and it was absolutely spectacular it was the best thing I could have done. It was a pretty easy plan b: I don’t want to travel internationally, so I will travel domestically.

Next, I was going to write books about the two Caminos I was going to walk last year. Instead of writing those books, I replaced those with my Into The Woods Short Reads series and my Ridgeway book that will be coming out this year. So I shifted my publishing projects to things that didn’t involve international travel. Another thing, I wanted to get my black belt last year, I couldn’t do that because we haven’t been able to do contact or sparring since March, so instead I ended up doing the modified winter course which count towards my blackbelt grading, but it was just the line work and the fitness parts of it. So that was good, it wasn’t what I wanted, it wasn’t what I expected, but it was a good alternative and I made up new fitness goals: I ran a 10k, I ran a half marathon, that was really exciting. I had another half marathon booked for Monday 28th December but obviously that got cancelled because everything was in Tier 4.

So yeah, that was how I changed things around. So find out why you want each goal, or project or plan and what is a good substitute in terms of what is going to give you the same result, or similar results or a similar experience. I think this is really important when you think about what kinds of adventures you want to have in the New Year, whether that’s outdoor adventures, whether that is some other kind of adventures, and come up with that plan b, c, d. So maybe you would like to have international adventures on your list next year, great put those on your list, put those on your dream list of plans or goals for 2021 and add a plan b. What is a good alternative? Just in case, just in case you can’t go there because travel is restricted or whatever, or you decide not to travel internationally, but have a plan b.            

This is something that I wanted to do this year for just about all, if not all, of my plans and goals and projects, I am going to have my main plan and then I am going to have my plan b for everything, because I am not always good with being flexible, I am not always good with unexpected changes, I am not great with uncertainty, I am really tired of uncertainty and I don’t feel like being disappointed again. What I plan to do is, have a plan b, and this is what I suggest that you maybe play around with, so that if you can’t do your plan a: if you can’t walk the Camino Portuguese, or the Camino Ingles, or everything international travel, or whatever thing it is that you want to do, right away you have got a plan b. So maybe you have a plan b for each of your goals, plans or projects, or maybe you just have a menu of options that you can pick from, if you can’t do your plan a, or your project a, or your goal a. So what does that menu of plan b options look like? So for example, you might instead of international travel you might decide where you want to travel domestically. If domestic travel outside of your tier is not possible, where can you travel in your local area, within your tier or very close to home? Instead of doing organised travel with a group you might do independent travel on your own. Instead of running a race or a marathon or an ultra, do the same distance or walk the same distance, but on your own. I know it is a very different feel walking a race or running a race, compared to doing it on your own, but it might give you some of the experience, it will certainly help you to complete that distance, not in the same environment, but it is still an achievement. Yesterday I did a 40k walk and it was so lovely, I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. Would it have been different if it had been an event? Of course, but honestly I really like walking on my own, so it was deeply satisfying.

If you are feeling unwell, I got Lyme disease last year, that totally threw a wrench in the plans, so what did I do instead? My husband and I watched a ton of travel and adventure shows and documentaries. So make a playlist on YouTube of all of the travel shows that you want to watch, documentaries about races or amazing outdoor adventures that other people do. I have got a blog post on this that I will link to in the show notes, and it is a blog post that I actually wrote when I was really getting into these outdoor documentaries and getting into thinking about ultra running, because I couldn’t go out and do much because I could barely get up my stairs without being totally winded. So if you are feeling unwell, watch travel and adventure shows that give you that feeling of adventure, that feeling of excitement, that teaches you what maybe possible for you, it teaches you places that you might want to go.

Other things, if you have creative projects, like blog posts or books or something else that requires travel, make a list of blog posts or a podcast or books or things that can be written or done without travel. So this year when I was planning my blog posts for the year, I have this Evernote document on my computer where I just make a list of all the things that I might want to write about and then I copy and paste things that other people have said, write about this. Then I ended up categorising them between blog posts that required travel and blog posts that didn’t require travel. So if I can get out and go and hike a place and take some pictures and write about it, great, if I can’t travel to these places and do the research I need for that blogpost I can pick something else and write another blog post that doesn’t require travel, because it is either about a place that I have already been, or it is information that I have in my head and kind of needs downloading or something like that. Create that menu of plan b options and even though we are still in this state of uncertainty, I really feel like having that menu of plan b options is going to make it a lot easier. When you can’t do the main thing that you want to do, it will make it easier to shift to something instead.

So this weekend, if my course gets cancelled, which it probably will, what am I going to do instead? Well what was that course about? It was wildlife trailing, so I could just go into the woods and practice wildlife trailing or I could just go out into the woods and go on a long walk, or I could do my next long training walk, or it could be a long run, or I could go into the woods and do something that requires me to be outdoors all day long, which is what I would have done if I had that course, it is not going to happen, but my fingers are crossed just in case it can. So create that menu and pick from that menu when you need to change your plans. I really think that it gives, not an element of certainty to this time of uncertainty, but gives really good options for plan b, I think it is going to make it a lot easier. That is one thing that I learned last year, to just have plan b, c, d, e – because things are always changing and there is really no indication that that is going to change anytime soon.

So those are my tips on how to plan and replan your year and how not to plan your year, please don’t make the mistakes that I did, because it feels like crap. I am really looking forward to pulling my oracle cards again, I’m really looking forward to doing my ‘dream big’ part of it, and yeah, I am very excited about this year, because last year, despite the fact that it was really difficult sometimes and sometimes I felt like I was barely hanging in there, especially during the first lockdown, it was a great year overall. So I am hoping to make this year even better and I hope that you can too.

So please drop me a line and let me know what adventure plans you have for this year and if you have a plan b, what is your plan b? And what do you think about this plan b menu? I would love to hear from you. So please let me know and let me know what your thought, what you are planning, my email is [email protected] or find me online and get in touch there.

And thank you so much for listening, remember to visit: HollyWorton.com/389 for the show notes on this episode. Thank you.