2017…at a glance
Week #122 – Spread Happyness: PLAN AHEAD!
Happy Friday, Everyone!
Today is Friday the 13th — and you know what that means, right?
We are almost HALF WAY through the first month of the new year!
I hope by now you’ve had the chance to process and celebrate the year we just completed — and set some new goals or visions for the new year ahead. (If not, click back to Week #120 and Week #121 for some ideas about how to do that.)
- Maybe you’ve picked your ONE WORD.
- Maybe you’ve completed an end-of-year review.
- Maybe you’ve taken a life-satisfaction assessment to see where you’re at — and where you need to grow.
- Maybe you’ve set some SMART goals — and you made them even SMART-ER by considering the WHY behind your WHAT.
What next?
What do we do with all those goals, dreams, visions, aspirations, and insight?
We plan it!
There has been much discussion lately about the virtues of paper calendars versus digital calendars. Digital calendars have great portability and a low profile — but rarely are they in your face. A password, and then one, two, maybe three clicks — not to mention competition with all those other apps once you’re unlocked. They just don’t give you much information at a glance — or much time to really plan ahead.
A paper calendar, hanging on the wall by your bathroom sink or on your refrigerator in the kitchen, may not be all that high tech — but it is certainly high-profile. It also gives you (and whomever you are sharing it with) time to ponder, compare, contribute, discuss, and yes — even plan ahead!
And many people I know are boosting their outlook by using FULL-YEAR wall calendar to track all the major events, holidays, appointments, and deadlines that are already set by the time we turn the calendar to January 1st — not to mention their personal goals and commitments.
And that makes sense, because it is well-documented that planning ahead is directly related to happiness. And not only that — scheduling your goals and commitments increases the chances that you will actually follow through with them.
Why not try it?
There is an old proverb: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is the tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:13) Don’t allow your daily or weekly schedule to rob you of the joy of planning ahead! Start plotting your year today!
Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: PLAN AHEAD! Perhaps someone gave you a cutesy calendar during the holidays — or you grabbed a freebie at your bank or pizza place without really thinking about where or how you’d use it. I challenge you this week to HANG IT UP! If you don’t like the pictures, tear out the calendar pages and arrange them in months, quarters — or the entire year at a glance. Then open your personal daily planners, pull together all those school and activity calendars, and queue up Google to search holiday dates — and start plotting your year. Start with the big holidays and three-day weekends, birthdays, and major events (like weddings, graduations, important anniversaries). I also like to mark the solstices/equinoxes, full moons, and time changes. Then move on to some of your goals. Are you running a marathon? Writing a book? Growing a business? Saving for a house? Planning a vacation or next year’s holiday travel? Start plotting your desires on the calendar by asking: where and when will this take place?
This isn’t the fanciest tool — but I created a little Full Year PDF for you to play with. It’s all on one page and won’t use much ink — so at least you can get the feel of what a full year really looks like at one glance!
Spread Happyness — PLAN AHEAD! And share your favorite calendar tips here — but most important, share your calendars with the ones you love!
1/13/16 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com