Is Your Master Life Plan Flexible Enough to Make This Your Best Year Yet?

Every December, I engage in a powerful ritual called Best Year Yet. It’s a time when I pause, reflect, and realign my vision for the year ahead. This process often reveals something profound, a shift in how I understand myself in connection with performance and potential. This new understanding is the foundation that helps me adjust my Master Life Plan. 

I created my Master Life Plan years ago with the intention that it be flexible — allowing me to grow or rest as I need. It guides me throughout each coming year, making it better than the last. Do you do something similar to get ready for a new year?

Below you’ll find the outline of how I think while adjusting my Life Master Plan. But the same principles will work for you if this is your first effort at making a Life Plan.

One caveat: Since your life is different from mine, you won’t find advice on how much money to make, where to live, what career path to follow. Those are decisions you make for yourself. On the other hand, you will find a framework for getting into the right mindset that allows you to go big and dive deep.

How to Add Flexibility to Your Life Plan

There’s a unique excitement in creating the life you want and defining success as you see it. Yet, I find that some of my clients get sidetracked in the minutiae of life and lose sight of their bigger picture. Where can you start and what needs to be given priority?

Taking some time and reflecting on what you did well during the previous year is a great place to start! This is when your journal will really be helpful, because we tend to minimize or forget our wins. Or you could write a letter to yourself about the lessons you’ve learned this year. Here are three vital things to keep in the forefront when making your Master Life Plan:

#1 Priority – Fuel your body, mind and spirit. If you don’t take care of yourself first, you will not be able to implement the following suggestions. A successful Life Plan will make your own physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellness top priority. Feel free to download my 7-Point Wellness Assessment and it will help you begin creating a healthier YOU today! 

#2 Priority – Make restorative sleep a priority. Your health, mental clarity and ability to be productive depend on it.

#3 Priority – Develop systems. Goals are fine, but if you want to create real change, it helps to have supportive systems in your life so that you perform important tasks automatically rather than relying solely on using willpower.

Before you proceed, please, take care of yourself with these priorities first! Then do as L.L.Cool suggests:

“Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.”

The following suggestions for developing and maintaining your focus will help you create a Master Plan that works for you.

Keep Maintain Your Focus is a World of Distractions

Remove distractions. Use the rest of this year to get rid of the clutter in your house, mind, desk, email inbox or schedule. This will help make room for any opportunity that arises.

Define your goals. When you define your goals according to a yearly, quarterly, monthly, and daily schedule, you’ll be less likely to lose your focus. Yes, that’s a lot of work to do before the year begins, but it’s worth it. It’s how you connect each day’s activities to your significant life goals.

Divide each goal into small tasks. Do you find yourself saying, “Where do I start?” “If” and “then” are small words, but they are indispensable tools in your productivity arsenal. Ask yourself, “If I want to accomplish my big goal Z, then what absolutely has to happen? If I want to work on Y, then I need to finish S, T, U, V, and W.”  Baby steps and microhabits are your best friends for making progress.

Work on hard things when you’re fresh and energized. Days can pass without accomplishing much toward your big goals, if you don’t learn to work to your strengths. Whether you’re a morning person or not, be “selfish” and keep the first hour of the day for yourself. Start with something that gives you an immediate win, like meditation, exercise and setting your intentions for the day. As you’re feeling confident and centered, you can turn to working on the hardest project of the day. Leave running errands and repetitive tasks for lower-energy moments.

Create and stick to your boundaries. Especially if you work at home, you’ll benefit from creating boundaries about when you answer emails, the phone, the doorbell or when your family can interrupt you. I like this reminder from Steve Jobs:

“Focusing is about saying No.”     

Hold breaks as sacred. Many of my clients work for themselves and they don’t treat themselves kindly. They push until late at night, skip meals, and work through break times. And their bodies hurt! It’s time to listen to your body and heal yourself from that abuse.

Reward yourself. Celebrate every small or big win each day. Get up and dance, grab a latte, cuddle your cat, buy a flower. Make each win memorable, because that’s how you’re going to know at the end of the year that you made this your best year yet!  

If you’d like to know more about my Best Year Yet Process, please contact me and schedule a 30-minute complimentary consultation. My process easily taps into your inherent intelligence (mind and body – the element people most often ignore!)  to make the changes and progress you long for.

Thank you for the use of your photos  Matthew Sleeper and  Unseen Studio