Sean McDevitt
Some Kind of Wonderful
I’m a terrible long-term planner. I’m actually very good at setting goals and absolutely horrible at creating steps to achieve those plans. It’s all in the execution and traditionally, that has been my downfall.
I’ve decided this year I’m going to make a change. (I have said this in the past, but this is the year… dammit).
Without a doubt, this is going to be a detailed and complicated process. By the time I’ve written this, I should have at least come up with quarterly and yearly plans. I might have even drilled down to month-by-month goals and steps. If I’m super lucky, I will have already involved my wife in these tentative planning sessions and she will have chimed in with better and more accurate dates, events, and plans.
As we are a few days into the new year and well past the craziness of the holidays, it is a good time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. The new year usually brings new unknown challenges, and it is always good to go in with a plan. Although I think it was Mike Tyson who said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Really, doing this should help me understand what’s coming up, see where things are, and where they might be down the road. It also should help me not get punched in the mouth that often or at least get back up after getting smacked in the face.
Traditionally, I’m poor at having this foresight so when the unexpected happens, I flounder. This year’s plan is designed to change that. No matter what areas I need to keep on top of, such as financial planning, trips we want to take, graduation parties, or just figuring out what is important over the course of the year, I’m going to plan for them now.
Maybe a bit surprising to some, I have elected to attempt to use a paper calendar. I have attempted to use a paper calendar in the past and have failed at it on more than one occasion. I want to use a paper calendar for planning. I’ll still have my electronic calendar for things, but I’m going to attempt a hybrid model. Wish me luck. I am not looking forward to any kind of personal budgeting. I am not particularly good with numbers. Thankfully, my wife is better at keeping things on track. However, I’m woefully uninformed about our household finances. This year I want to get a better handle on all that.
Another part of this long-term planning is vacations and time off over the course of the year. We don’t travel much for a variety of reasons, but I’d like to try and make some plans along those lines and see what might make sense. I think it would be worthwhile for us to plan a few trips to see friends and family.
I encourage everyone to take some time to look ahead and see what the coming year holds for you. My goal with this plan is to help me understand and keep focused on the important things each quarter, month, week, and day.
For far too many years, I’ve been a passive participant in things happening around me. I want to have more say, and the only way to do that is to take some control and ask to be included in those plans.
For the other planners out there reading this, it may seem like old hat, and I get that. For the passive non-planners… why not take inventory, set some goals and some steps, and make 2024 something wonderful?
We all could use something wonderful this year.
Let’s make it happen.
