The clock strikes midnight, and the fireworks are bursting, glasses are clinking, and many are left wondering how yet again another year is off to the races! More and more it feels like the hours pass by like seconds and the days pass by like minutes. Then, before you know it, you’re wondering how another year has passed.
In January, many of us tend to set resolutions like exercise or read more! It makes me wonder, are we setting up the environment conducive to meeting these goals or resolutions? I work with folks all the time who are looking to build a plan for things like retirement, growing their savings/investments, or paying for their kids’ college. Together, we look at the lifestyle you’re creating to get you from point A to point Z! How can we design or tweak your current plan to get you to your goals? Note: I’m preaching to the choir here!
Audit your time.
This conundrum of time disappearing brings me back to my first year of college. All freshman students had to take this “Freshman Gateway Seminar” course. Cue the eye roll here from a class full of 18-year-olds. You know what though? 17 years later, I can personally attest that those First Year Programs folks at Lee University knew what they were doing.
One of the first lessons I remember from what feels like a lifetime ago was about what we do with the hours we’re blessed with each week. I remember my professor starting out by taking the 24 hours we get per day and multiplying them by 7, equaling 168 hours a week. Now, budget 7-8 hours a night for sleeping (optimistic if you ask me!) and 2-3 hours a day for your daily meals. Then we need to factor in our hours for classes and part-time work, let’s just say that it’s about 8-10 hours a day for Monday through Friday. How many hours does that leave you of time that is not “spoken for?” In my 18-year-old case, that led to about 65-70 hours a week of “available time.” Then, he talked to us about the importance of what we choose to do with those hours: budgeting time for papers and studying, for family and friends, for physical fitness, etc. While life has changed and certainly has more demands than it did when we all were 18 years old, there’s a lot to be taken away from this exercise.
What can you automate, delegate or eliminate to get you to your goals?
Time is precious and finite, as we learned from the exercise above. What can we do to create more space in our day? That’s where automating, delegating, and eliminating come into play!
Let’s use meal prepping as an example of automating. By automating what I eat during the work week, I will make healthier choices because my meals will be prepared, and I can grab and go throughout the week without having to decide last minute.
Write a letter to yourself to review 12 months later.
Visualizing where you want to be this time next year, start by writing either a letter or email to yourself. Focus on two questions: 1. What are you stopping/or cutting back on this year? 2. What are you going to grow/focus on this year?
I had the opportunity to do this last year with some of my 2024 Rising Star advisor peer group. It’s honestly kind of surreal seeing that letter come in the mail just a few weeks ago. It brought back memories of my goals for 2025 and helped with building on to my 2026 resolutions.
Starting with the end in mind can make a powerful impact on adding intention to your year and your overall well-being. Let’s make 2026 our best year yet by taking one small step today that will make us extra proud of ourselves in 2027!
