The first of the year is probably the most important day for me. I go to the office when no one else is around to evaluate and plan. I evaluate the past year and plan for the coming year. I have a simple system for evaluating. I put a plus for the things I did, a minus for the things I did not do, and an 'X' if I decided during the year that I did not want to do them.
At the top of my planning sheet I have for years put this verse: "that I might know Him." Somehow I've always felt that knowing Christ was the most important thing in life and I realize I do not have the personal knowledge that I would like to have. A friend recently visited Mother Teresa and said to her, "I want to love Jesus as much as you do. How can I do it?" She replied, "all of us are created for that." Then she went on to explain that people think that the work she does in Calcutta is for the poor, but she says, "Tell them we do it for Jesus." In a devotional she wrote during an illness she said, "Jesus I love with my whole heart, with my whole being. I have given Him all, even my sins, and he has espoused me to Himself in tenderness and love."
1. I have a very simple plan that I have followed for years and it has proven helpful. Financial - I do a financial recap of four elements: my net worth, liquidity, fixed expenses and cash flow. I make no apology for putting financial first because I have found that my finances greatly influence my options for the year. I don't live to make money but I make money to live. . . A balanced checkbook isn't a balanced life.
2. Personal progress - I cover three areas here, the physical, mental, and spiritual. My physical plan includes avoiding any exercise program begun through pressure from my peers or physicians! In my mental plan I include reading, writing/and association. I believe it was Francis Bacon who said, "Reading makes a full man, writing an exact man." Smith says, "Association is the easiest way to learn and writing is the best way to burn the fuzz off our thinking." I had a boss who once insisted that I write everything to him and once early in our relationship I complained that I could talk better than I could write. He said the reason I couldn't write was the fact I didn't know it. From then till now I write out my ideas. In my personal spiritual progress I try to think in terms of study and prayer. Again, association is an important part of spiritual growth.
3. Family - Generally with the family I list specific things and relations. In the relations I'm simply trying to turn the house into a home, which is not a simple process. We all know many families with beautiful houses but not good homes. Just as one example of relationship: one year I put down that we should try to improve our table conversations. When our children were young our family centered around the table; we spent a lot of time talking to each other at that time. It became a natural to upgrade. And part of my goal was to make it a conversation, not a lecture.
4. Business - When I had the corporation there were three things that I was particularly focused on: major changes and opportunities in the year, major threats and competition, having the right people in the right places. Now, I work on my investments rather than my business, but the same principles apply.
This purposeful time at the beginning of each year gave me the opportunity to evaluate and plan. I find that both parts are necessary for healthy growth. I don't just close a door on a year and open a new one ---- I want to take the measure of the past and take the lessons into the future. In dividing the analysis into these four categories I simplified the process and kept touch with the major areas of my life. I highly recommend that you think, write and review.
