“Failing to plan is planning to fail” the saying goes. It’s true an individual with a plan of action is better than one without. Is it a way of nature telling us to do the same that our instinct gives us the urge to plan for the year ahead? Whatever the case is how can we come up with a foolproof plan for the year ahead? Here are some tips on getting ahead in the coming year, it starts with the plan – resolutions setting.

🎯Pick an Identity

In this life, we all have an idea of the person we would like to become, a doctor, an accountant, a father, an athlete etc. This is hidden in our aspirations, the ultimate goal we desire. In simple terms, this is our lifetime goal. Setting New Year resolutions should not be disconnected from this goal. After all, we are planning a year which is a section of our lifetime. Therefore, the first step is to define yourself and pick an identity that speaks to the ultimate goal. For someone who sees themself in the medical field, an identity can be a good Doctor, or a good Nurse. For someone who sees themself in the Financial Services field, an identity can be an accountant or Financial Manager. Now phrase your Identity as I’m a Doctor, I’m a Nurse, I’m an Accountant or I’m an Engineer. It is possible to have multiple identities, the world has changed and one can do more than one trade in life. You can be a Doctor/YouTuber or Accountant/Athlete.

Picking an identity is like choosing a destination. One can not embark on a journey without the destination if so what step are you going to take and in which direction? The destination dictates the journey. Your identity is your destination.

🥅Quarterly Quests

After picking an identity, set Quests. In layman’s terms, these are goals, and milestones aligned with the identity. Ask yourself, what’s the single most important thing that you can do right now to realise your identity? The answer to this is your first Quest. Obviously, you can have multiple quests but critically they should not be too many, The recommended ones are 2 to 3. You can have a work Quest and a Life Quest. Look at how quests link to the identity.

There is a problem with setting New Year resolutions, that is whatever quest/goal we choose it’s spanned over 12 months, a year. A fact of the matter is that a year is too long to track quests. It gives us too much free play and our dedication can be easily overtaken by other things in this busy world. Therefore, Quarterly Quests. The beauty of this is that we have broken down the year into 4 manageable quarters and we are taking on the challenge of doing short 90-day sprints that will accumulate into a year eventually.

Quests should be SMART, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bond. Already we defined the time, remember to make them specific, measurable, and realistic enough to be attainable and automatically they should be relevant to the chosen identity. This is crucial because to succeed after every quarter you will have to do a similar exercise to realign to the identity.

⚛️Build Systems

Quests are what most people define as resolutions. Go to the gym, start a business, marry the love of my life etc. There is a layer under this which is the reason why most fail and some succeed. That is the systems we put in place or design to ensure we achieve the set quests. These systems are the habits we choose to make sure we are successful in our quests. Habits are the secret to success, designed well they automatically drive us towards our quests.

Making reference to the work of James Clear, a habit is a behaviour that has been repeated enough times to become automatic. There is extensive work on habit in the book Atomic Habits where he writes about the four laws of building habits: making it obvious, making it attractive, making it easy and making it satisfying. In a special way, we would like to focus more on the environment. For habits to stick the environment should be encouraging us to tackle the habit. let’s take for instance you identify as a Writer and you have set your quarterly quest to write 5,000 words of your book in draft, when building the systems/ habits to support the quest condition your environment to encourage writing. Clear your desk, remove distractions from your space that’s your TV, Radio and Phone, and pick a quiet time to write. Sometimes it’s not the motivation we need but rather a conditioned environment to help our habits stick.

There you have it, tips on planning for the year ahead. The new year is an exciting time, you get an opportunity to reflect and build yourself. The way you do it can determine your success, as most wars are won in war rooms. Wishing you all the best in your 2025 endeavours