So, have my US readers recovered from their Turkey-induced comas yet? This year Thanksgiving in the US was as early as technical possible. And that means that we have more time than usual between the feasting and the festing. As we head into the maelstrom of end of year holidays, I figured this would be a perfect chance to get a bit of a head start on holiday todo stuff.
But no matter how you celebrate the end of this year, there are really good reasons not to wait until January first to start thinking about the next one.
First, because a lot of people have time off at the end of the year. I will be taking a three week break — basically through the first new moon of January — and plan on doing some major magic (starting next week!) as well as planning for 2019. If you have some quiet days between Christmas and New Year’s (a time I enjoy far more than the crazy days beforehand) you can use them to do an UBER agile sprint planning — looking at what you’ve accomplished through the past year and determining what you want to accomplish next. Of course you need to break that down into doable chunks before you can actually do them.
Which is why the second great reason to start now on your goals for next year is because if you start now, you can actually plan how to accomplish your goals instead of just declaring them on January 1st (and going down in flames by the 3rd). I’ve talked about this in the past. Whether or not you actually make New Year’s Resolutions ™, if you have plans and goals you want to accomplish, this is the time to make sure they actually happen. I talked recently about a goal that I have for 2019 that I’m going to use as a test-bench for habit formation. And that means starting now to think about how to make that happen.
Finally, if you do stuff now, you can take advantage of the momentum into next year. I call these cheaters resolutions and I highly recommend them! And note, I’ll honor the discount offer in that link but starting right now! Just book before the end of January and put the code Jan20 in the secret code box on the booking form.
If you are invested in the new year as a time to really make big changes in your life, then I recommend a “Your Year Ahead” consultation. It will take you through the whole year and makes a great gift for someone who’s ready to kick some ass in 2019 — especially if that someone is you! Book your first of three 60-minute sessions and I’ll send you my Circle Thrice Agile Year Planner. You fill it out and I’ll do a thorough review before our session. Then, we’ll work through it together to make sure your goals have SMARTS and your tasks are doable. You may have homework. Finally, we’ll spend another hour together doing your first hands-on agile planning. By the end of our time together, you will have an actionable and flexible plan that you can continue to adjust and work through the end of the year. You can follow up with quarterly emails to ask questions or get additional guidance on your project. And you get a third hour to check in with me any time during the following 12 months. That’s three 60-minute consultations, the planner, and quarterly check-in emails — an amazing value!
