Do you set New Year’s Resolutions?
I do – every year. Honestly, when I look back on my life, I don’t remember a time that I didn’t set resolutions. Even when I was a kid, I have some distinct memories of my dad sitting down with me and asking, “So – what do you want to accomplish this year? Do you have your resolutions written down?” Then we’d both pull out our paper or our notebooks and share what we wanted to do.
I’m a goal-setter by nature, so resolutions come naturally to me. But I don’t love that they always seem to lock me into one line of thinking. I get so tunnel-visioned that I forget the real motivation behind the resolution, and overwhelm myself chasing after an arbitrary goal.
Sound familiar?
As entrepreneurs, we often push ourselves to reach that are larger than life. We dream big, and I honestly don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. But these same big goals that often masquerade as fun and exciting New Year’s resolutions can also be problematic. That’s why, as I kicked off 2019, I decided I wanted to pursue a different kind of goal setting for my personal and professional life.
Over the years, I’ve changed my approach to setting resolutions a few times. Last year I followed Erin Lowry’s idea of setting microgoals, and it was a game changer. I’ll definitely be continuing this month-to-month in 2019, but I wanted to do something that addressed the big picture of life and business. So, I’m tackling a new concept this year with my resolutions: setting an annual intention.
What Does That Mean?
Setting an annual intention is just as simple as it sounds. Instead of thinking of 100+ goals that you want to accomplish in every area of your life in the new year, you think of one intention that you want to permeate everything you do. I first heard of someone doing something like this when I was listening to Young House Love Has a Podcast. John (one of the show’s hosts) had decided he was going to choose one word that he wanted to represent the coming year. I honestly don’t remember what his word was, or why he picked it. I just remember churning that idea around in my mind and thinking – huh. One word?
I was immediately drawn to how boiled-down the concept seemed. After spending years trying out different goal-setting techniques, I hadn’t ever found one that felt like it fit perfectly. This, however, was a concept I could get behind.
For 2019, I tweaked the idea a bit. Rather than choosing one word, I decided to go with an intention. This phrase fueled all of the other resolutions I set, and I’m hoping I can hold on to it throughout the year, and reflect it through both my actions and my words in work, life, relationships – you name it.
My 2019 Intention
This year, my intention is:
All in.
I like all of the different ideas it reflects. To me, all in, feels like embracing the good with the bad. It feels like going all in on client work and projects I love. It feels like going all in when it comes to my personal life, hobbies, relationships, and more. It feels like going all in on every decision I make, every up and down I experience, and everything I choose to pursue. All in also feels like it represents togetherness. 2018 was a bit of a wake up call for me in that I realized I can’t keep running my business, or facing life’s challenges, alone. I’m incredibly fortunate to have a rocking team here at Perfectly Planned Content, and in my husband, my family, and my friends. And I’m excited that, for 2019, I’m going to be leaning in to the idea that we’re truly all in this together. By supporting one another, we’ll all be able to achieve our goals, and keep pushing toward the best version of ourselves.
What “All In” Means For You (And Perfectly Planned Content!)
It means that you can expect to see some pretty cool things coming out of the Perfectly Planned Content team this year. One of the things we’re going “all in” with is a ton of free, actionable content for you. We’re going all in to create amazing free downloads that will help you get a leg up on your marketing this year, blog posts with tons of valuable information, podcast episodes (spoiler alert – dropping in Q1!) that feature your fellow financial planners and feature their success stories, and so much more. I’m incredibly excited about everything we have in the works, and all of the other ideas that we’re currently brainstorming.
Are you ready to check out the first piece we’ve gone “all in” on in 2019? Click the image below to download your FREE copy of our annual marketing calendar for advisors. This piece breaks down your marketing tasks by quarter, and focuses on everything from lead generation to content creation.
Here’s to kicking off 2019 with a bang!
