Checking it Twice, Making a List
It's the happ- happ- happiest time of year since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny (blanking) Kaye!
It is, for me, that most wonderful time of the year. I have come to love this part of the seasonal cycles, when the current year turns into the new. I’ve taken to hiding myself away1 for about a week, spending time with my nuclear and extended family. This year’s retreat from the every day comes at the end of a fairly2 tumultuous year for me, with many changes and shifts in what I do, how I do it, where I do it, and with whom.3 So, my annual tradition should be of even greater benefit than before.
I take this time away from the routine (and the non-routine!) to well and truly reflect and reconsider the past year. This is not a navel-gazing, incense smoke-filled event; rather, it’s often as not while taking a hike4 or a brisk 211-degree Fahrenheit shower5. It’s when I can be in a place, both physically and psychologically, where I’m not pulled out of my thoughts by the perpetual and, for me, insistent and irresistible makes-Mahoney-even-dumber-phone.6 This is intentional time away, designed for focus, is unlike the experience I wrote about earlier this year, where I entered into this state of mind unexpectedly while performing some hard graft in the yard. It’s no less useful and impactful for the intentionality, I should note. In fact, where the unexpected slips into this state of mind come as a welcome surprise, this dedicated and anticipated time away sets the stage for those slips to yield the positive impact it does.
So, what do I do and how do I do it?7
1. Clear the decks. I make sure that I reserve this time each year as part of my PTO/vacation/holiday/annual leave8 well in advance and clear this9 with my management and team. In the weeks leading up to this break I work very hard10 to either complete or delegate any tasks, meetings, or deliverables of another sort, and communicate statuses to stakeholders as those transitions are made.
2. Prep my materials. I leverage Michael Hyatt’s SMARTER framework for setting and tracking my annual goals, and in preparation for this quiet time I set aside specific time to review my goals in the context of where I am in terms of milestones. I make sure I have my planner, notebook, pen, and plenty of ink.11 I also make sure my e-reader app has at least one fun read and one “serious”12 read waiting for me.
3. Walk, and then write. Or write, and then walk. It depends on the day, the mood, and what I’ve either already done or not done. In this I’m not terribly particular. The walk preceding a writing session is one of rumination and imagination, and the writing must follow immediately afterwards or I’ll have lost the thread. The walk that comes post-writing is reflection and remembering, adding context to my written thoughts. These can wait if needs be before adding those thoughts into my prior efforts.
4. Keep my eyes open. Seems nearly nonsensical, but when I am actively seeing my surroundings, especially when on a hike, when I am truly focused and aware of where I am and my environs, I find myself taking a helpful tangential path in my thoughts. I’m not sure why my delight at seeing pine needles on the tree completed encapsulated by clear ice from the overnight freezing rain leads me automatically to thinking about my teams, my plans, my then-frustratingly-nebulous plans for the next quarter and year, but it does.13
One thing I don’t do is sweat this. I’m not put out if my reflection and planning aren’t complete by the time our time away is complete. The focus is not on getting the task done by when, it’s creating the time and mental space to start the reflection and planning. I’m always going back over my goals and next-right-thing to do/perform/complete/start, and I’m comfortable with only having an outline by the time I’m heading back south. What I will do under those circumstances is find time every day to approximate the conditions that I’ve found to be conducive to my process: clear the decks (much more temporarily, any ways) walk outside, write, stay aware, and while I have finished this process when back in the office I’ve also found this is a more fluid and effective process when I’m “working” on this when at home.
My plans are not the stuff of legend. I have goal to take over the Western World, or to create the Next Big Thing or Business Model. My goals are far more humble and pedestrian, which is not to say they aren’t important, challenging, or simple. They do tend to be grounded in the same three areas: My work (and professional development), my mind14, and my family. I’ve found that these three areas of primary focus entail more than enough areas of specific activity and opportunity to keep me busy for many, many years. The challenge of paring down the list of potential goals to the final annual set for a given year is where I find myself spending much time. I’ve found this effort ends with a strong feeling of anticipation and excitement, one that carries me through my period of reflection and planning for the next year well into that next trip around the sun.
How and when do you plan? What are your methods and resources? What’s worked for you, and what hasn’t? Comment, please!
Merry Christmas, and have a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Really. I head to a place in upstate New York where the food is wonderful, the activities straight out of a Norman Rockwell (ask your parents about him, kiddies and millennials), the company a delight, and the internet and cellular service non-existent. It’s a g-d delight!
OK, tremendously!
This refers to the colleagues with whom I work and collaborate – get you head out of the gutter! ;-)
OK, walk. But it’s in the woods! On trails! Sometimes with icy patches!
212 degrees is just a shade too warm for me.
You’ve met me. It’s clearly not a smart phone if I have it, amiright?
In my mind’s ear I hear Frank Sinatra singing, “doo bee doo bee doo,” when I read that question I’ve just posed. And now you do, too, don’t you. SorryNotSorry.
Could we have more names for the same thing?!?
And by clear, I mean tell them. It’s a non-negotiable for me.
What? I do! No, really!
I’m a fountain pen guy, and my favorite is a solid black Kaweco Dia 2, fine point nib, and Fahrney’s blue-back ink.
I know it’s been out for a while, but I recently grabbed a copy of Sinek’s Infinite Game, and I think that’s this trip’s serious read, for context.
I expect your positive triggers will be somewhat different from mine.
What little is left needs much support and buttressing!