For the first 35 years or so of my life, I just kind of let things happen to me. I kind of had an idea of things I wanted to do, but sometimes other things happened instead. I didn’t set aside the time to consciously create the life I wanted to live.

I now have a pretty extensive process that I go through to plan each year. I usually start around Samhain, which is a pagan festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the “lighter” half of the year. It also marks the beginning of winter or the “darker” half of the year. You may know it as Halloween. In the northern hemisphere, it’s usually celebrated between 31st October and 1st November, making it the perfect time to start planning the new year.

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Start by reviewing the current year

This is important. I talk a lot about what I call The Three Questions: Who am I? Where am I? and Where am I going? It’s good to ask those questions in that order, but answering the first one is a lifelong journey, and it’s something you’ll want to ask yourself on a regular basis. The more work I do to answer that question, the more clarity I get, and the more likely I am to make good choices for myself. Read more about Q1: Who am I?

By reviewing the current year, we’re answering Q2: Where am I? This process helps us to understand where we are in our life, right now. It’s important to know where we are before we plan where we want to be going.

How to review your year

What was the year like for you? If you keep a journal, grab it and write down everything that comes to mind. Just let it all out.

If you don’t keep a journal, get a new notebook that you can use to write things down. You could do this in a document on your computer, but you’ll probably find it much easier to handwrite it.

Go through all your old journals (if you have them) from the last twelve months. Get out your current journal or notebook, and write down all the things that stand out to you.

I always do an oracle card spread for the entire year (I explain more about this later). When I review my year, I go back and review my oracle cards. I ponder just how accurate the reading actually was (it usually is) and I reflect on everything that happened.

Review your list of goals and projects for the current year. Did you achieve all of your goals? Celebrate the goals you achieved!

Review the goals you did not achieve—do you want to keep these goals for the new year? If so, evaluate why you didn’t achieve them and what you can do in the new year to make that happen. What do you need to do differently?

Go through your calendar week by week, and write each major activity or event down in one column or the other: light/positive on the left, and heavy/negative on the right. Once you’ve written everything down, go back through the list and highlight the top 10 light/positive things and the top 3 heavy/negative things. Which things do you want to do more of in the new year? Which things do you want to cease doing in the new year?

How to plan your year

By planning the new year, we’re answering Q3: Where am I going? In taking the time to consciously plan what we want to experience in the new year, we are creating the lifestyle that we want to experience—rather than just letting life happen to us. Here is a list of questions that will help you to get clear on what you want in your life in the new year.

How do you want to feel in 2021?

What do you want to be/do/have in the new year?

What do you want to see/discover/explore?

What skills do you want to learn/improve/master?

Goal setting for the new year

When working on goal setting for the new year, start out by writing everything down that you want to do and achieve. Then, look at whether it’s actually realistic for you to fit all that into one year. Some things might have to go on a list for the following year. I keep a file on my computer with all the goals, plans, and projects that didn’t fit into the current year so I can review them when I’m planning the new year. Here are some questions to ask yourself.

What do you want to focus on in the new year? Remember to include any unachieved goals from the current year that are still important to you.

What do you want to achieve?

What are your goals/projects/plans for the year?

What is your #1 goal for the new year?

Plan your best year yet

Now, look at the overarching theme for the new year. What do you want to experience, in broad terms? Here are some questions to help you get clear on what you want.

What do you want to call in for the new year?

How do you want to remember the new year when you look back on it years from now?

What would you like the overarching theme to be for the year?

What’s your word of the year for the new year?

Pull some oracle cards

Oracle cards are a divination tool. They can help you to tap into your inner knowing and help you to access what your intuition knows about your path ahead. They do not “tell the future” as you have many, many possibilities ahead of you for the new year—and your options change with each decision that you make.

I’ve found that doing an oracle card reading for the new year to be incredibly accurate. I shuffle the deck, while thinking about what I want to experience in the new year. Then I fan them out and pick twelve cards—one for each month. I think of the month as I’m pulling the card, and then I arrange them all in order on a table or desk. Finally, I pull a thirteenth card—this one represents the overarching theme for the year.

If you don’t have a deck of oracle cards, you can always find them at used and new bookshops or order them online.

Learn more about oracle cards here. 

Check in regularly

Review your goals/plans/projects on a daily or weekly basis throughout the new year. This is super important to help keep you on track. If you don’t keep your goals in the forefront of your mind, then you’ll forget about them and you won’t make progress toward achieving them.

Look at your list of goals and check off or highlight the ones you’ve completed. Celebrate your achievements! This is important, and it’s something I forget to do. I tend to highlight the project I’ve completed, and move right on to the next one.

Review the progress you’re making on the other goals. Are you on track? If so, great! If not, what do you need to do differently to get back on track?

Related blog posts

Q1: Who am I?

Q2: Where am I?

Q3: Where am I going? 

Related podcast episodes

327 Holly Worton ~ How to Conduct Your Year-End Review (now with downloadable transcript!)

325 Holly Worton ~ Life Planning + Goals for Each Decade of Your Life (now with downloadable transcript!)

256 Holly Worton ~ It’s Summer! Time to Review Your Business, Make Changes, and Plan for the Future (now with downloadable transcript!)

Related reading

For years and years, I just let life happen to me. Sometimes life was good, sometimes it was bad. Then I made some major life changes, and in 2011 I trained as a life coach and learned the power of setting goals, planning projects, and creating an actual plan for my life. And that’s when I really started living. Life got better and better, year after year. And now I’m excited to share my process with you.

This workbook is how I create the year that I want to live. It helps me to imagine my best lift and design my ideal year, so I don’t leave my life to chance. There are two parts to the workbook: first, we evaluate the year that’s just passed, so we can see what went right—and what could be improved. Then, we plan all the little details of all the things we want to experience in the new year. We plan projects, we set goals, and we create a plan to achieve them.

Are you ready to stop simply existing, and start living a fulfilling life that’s full of joy and adventure?

You can start at anytime of the year. You’ll simply adjust it to evaluate the last 12 months of your life, and to plan the next 12 months—whether that’s in December, March, July, or September. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be living your ideal life. Buy this workbook today and start planning your joy-filled future.

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