As the year comes to a close, I thought it would be fun to walk you through exactly how I plan out the next year’s goals. I get so many questions about how I use my wall calendars from all of you. So, I’m super excited about sharing these tips for planning out 2022! I’m going to break down exactly what I use and how I use it to plan my year and my goals as we walkthrough setting up my calendars. Grab your calendar and let’s dive in!!
USE A CALENDAR
When you sit down to plan out a new year, grab your favorite calendar to get started. Whether it’s the wall calendars like me or a planner, I think it’s an essential step. I love using my big wall calendars from Kat Schmoyer (Quarterly & Yearly Wall Calendars from Kat Schmoyer). Her calendars are great because I can break down my goals into quarterly goals and see them in my office clearly.
When I start to plan my year out, the first thing I do is write out my personal commitments. These are things like weddings, vacations, holidays, and our birthdays… whatever it is that I want to be off work for goes on my calendar first. The next thing I like to write are the work commitments I have like promotional periods, speaking engagements, events, or conferences I plan to attend. Finally, I add in additional time off I know I want to take. Look at when your busiest times are and think about if you might want some REST after that crazy time is over. Personal commitments and rest should be prioritized from the start of the year, in my opinion.
MY CALENDARS
I use Kat Schmoyer’s yearly calendar and print it in the 24×36” size, then put it in a 24 x 36″ gold frames from Target. To use and write on the calendar, I use wet erase markers (yes, it matters that they’re wet erase because the dry erase markers will just smudge!). I’ve tried using sticky notes but I like the markers best when I sit down to plan. I know the calendar seems big but it is SUPER nice to see everything laid out and right on my wall.
HOW I DO THIS ON MY CALENDAR
Once you’ve got your calendar set up, it’s time to actually write out your year and determine the goals for your business both yearly and quarterly. Again, I like to focus on my quarterly goals. That’s not to say I never set yearly goals, but they’re not as focused as my quarterly ones.
Again, I start with my personal commitments for the next year. Seriously, take the time to add these into your calendar first. When those are done, I add in the work commitments. For me, that looks like bundles, speaking engagements, conferences, and those types of things. From here, I can start to decide on what other promotional periods or new releases for my business. What I love about Kat’s calendar is she encourages a monthly focus, so I can quickly start deciding on those as I plan. These focuses don’t have to be complicated. For example, I know in January, I need to focus on content for February and March.
QUARTERLY CALENDAR
After I’ve got everything laid out on your yearly calendar, I get my quarterly calendar to plan for the three months in the upcoming quarter. This is where I start to get more specific with my goals, my plans, and what my focus will be each month. Kat’s calendar includes a spot to talk about what would make each month “successful” for your business and I LOVE that customization. Add your commitments onto the month first and then you can start to work your goals around them. I then move my monthly focus to the quarterly calendar so I can start breaking down my goals for the month and quarter.
As you’ll see in the video, my first quarter is about really prepping my business for maternity leave. I’m focusing on content creation and automation. Kat’s calendar also encourages you to determine what success means for you each month. It’s nice to think about what would make me feel like I accomplished something! So, definitely fill those out, too.
WRAP UP
Here’s the thing about planning: life changes and plans change. Laying out these goals and commitments just helps me feel like I know what’s going on in my business and can stay focused as time goes on. But, these calendars also make it easy to adjust as things change. They’re simple but effective and it’s a great way to break down what you plan to accomplish in your business.
If you’re ready to start planning 2022, use the links below to grab all of the supplies I use each year!
Quarterly & Yearly Wall Calendars from Kat Schmoyer
Get $10 off at Mpix (print on Poster Paper, 24″ x 36″ size, about $35 each)
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