The time between Thanksgiving and the New Year’s is one of my favorite times of year.  Not only do you have the joy of Christmas, celebrations with family, and of course, great food – but I also enjoy it for the time of reflection it inherently brings.  The end of the year carries with it not only a sense of our mortality but also a reminder of the things we accomplished or did not accomplish.  This year, I am trying something new – why not take the time in which I am naturally more reflective and develop a plan for the year ahead?  To that end I am working through a plan that addresses the Spiritual, personal, relational, physical, and financial aspects of the year ahead.

When I look at what takes many businesses and organizations from Good To Great I find that each organization had a strategic plan, that is, they developed an applied vision of how to get from where they currently are to where they want to be.  So, I figured, why not do that with my family?

I find that it is easier to start where we have the most interest, and the area where I have had the most interest recently has been in the area of finances.  So, I sat down with Kelly and developed a comprehensive budget.  We took a look not only at our current monthly finances, but also at where we want to be in a few years.  We did the math on where we want to be in a few years and analyzed what it is going to take to get there.  In doing so, we developed a concrete budget we can both agree on and thus stick to in order to meet our financial goals.  I personally use Dave Ramsey’s budget at Every Dollar, but am also a big fan of YNAB.  Regardless, there is no need to be fancy – a simple napkin over dinner can do the trick.

Okay – money is done.  Whew, now I know what I have to work with.  Now is time to settle into the month-long process of working through my different “life accounts” such as my Spiritual, relational, and physical accounts.  I treat these just like my bank account – first I have to balance each account, then develop a plan to move forward in each account.  For this part, I can’t recommend highly enough Living Forward by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy.  I am big fan of Mr. Hyatt, and he has done a very nice job laying out and explaining the process of developing a life plan – he even provides the template to plan by.  Completing the life plan, especially if it is the first time you have made one, is an amazing experience, and can, in some cases, be life changing.

Finally, with my life plan complete, I get to work on my strategic plan.  The strategic plan takes my life plan and budget and encapsulates them into a vision statement, mission, and goals.  My strategic plan is where I try to get really creative – it is a fun time of putting who we as a family are into words and then defining the goals we want to accomplish over the year.  Here is the template I use to dream up my strategic plan.  I’ll talk more about goals later, but in the meantime, happy reflecting!