It seems I took an unintentional vacation in the last half of December! Perhaps you, too, have experienced those times when "life happens," your best intentions are either forgotten or put on hold, and you are in "response" rather than "pro-active" mode. Well, it's a new year, with new intentions and goals, and it's time to get my creative life back to some semblance of control.
I sat down on Christmas Eve and began the process of reviewing 2008 and planning 2009. It's always a humbling and energizing experience. I may not have achieved all my '08 intentions, and, while I can learn something by analyzing why some things didn't happen, I don't need to dwell on the negative. (Ironically, as I'm writing this, I just realized that the song playing in my iTune playlist is that old standard "Accentuate the Positive!") So, looking ahead, I can certainly focus on all my positive intentions and make plans to achieve them.
My planning process starts with a vision of where I want to end up in December 2009 - How will I be different then than now? What do I want to be able to say I've accomplished? How do I want to feel then, compared to now? With that vision in mind, I can then plan quarter by quarter, or month by month (even day by day) what I need to do to achieve that vision.
I'll share other planning tips as the year goes on.