Another year is here! Hooray and OMG! This is the time of year we set our intentions for the year ahead and identify any goals we wish to accomplish. Its also a time for personal reflection on all the good things that happened last year and a reminder of what we didn’t get done.

So, to start the year strong, consider this 3-step process to get you going quickly:

Step 1: Visioning

Visioning is all about using the power of your imagination to envision the successful completion of your goals. Start by daydreaming about all your wish for this year. In your mind’s eye there are no limits. Make sure you consider every area of your life: Career, Family, Friends, Significant Other, Health, Finances, Environment, Spirituality, Personal Growth, Fun & Recreation. Imagine you are at the end of 2020 looking back on the year – what does it look like from this perspective? Describe that ideal vision. There are many tools to assist you in this step. Here are a few suggestions. Create a vision board by cutting out pictures from magazines or printing images from sites like Instagram that best describe your ideal situation. Create a collage of pictures, images & words to add to your vision board. If vision boards are not your thing. You can also journal about your ideal life or ideal year. To get a clearer vision of your future, meditate or daydream to get clear images or a feeling of what you envision for your future.

Step 2: Planning

Planning is the process of thinking about the activities you need to complete in order to achieve your desired goal. It’s the process of making an outline or plan to accomplish the goal utilizing the resources you have available or can make available and including any constraints such as time or money. There are many ways to do this step. I created a goals worksheet I use with my clients that helps minimize the overwhelm by chunking it down into smaller steps. Another simple process is to make a list of every activity you believe needs to be completed to reach the goal. Then prioritize the list by item of importance and in order of completion required. Note, some activities are dependent on the completion of others. Then identify timelines for each activity. You can consolidate all the activities and timelines into a spreadsheet, or word document to provide some structure to your plan. Finally, move each activity item into your calendar and block off time to complete.

Step 3: Actioning

The visioning step represents about 20% of developing the roadmap, and the planning step represents 60% of the process and where most of the work is thought out. The final 20% represents the actual action taken. When you have a clear vision and a well thought out plan, taking action becomes so much easier. One step at a time will get you to your goal.