Designing a Fulfilling and Fruitful New Year
Today is one of my favorite days of the year.
This morning, I’ll sit down in one of my favorite coffee shops and reflect on the year as it comes to a close.
Above: One of my favorite spots in our beautiful little town of Poulsbo, Washington, known locally as “Little Norway.” Today is one of my favorite days of the year – a day to step back and reflect on the year that was, what I’ve learned, and the year to come.
Reflection is the first of four things I do at the end of each year to set the tone and get clarity of vision for the new year.
My mission today is to get you to schedule time to reflect and plan for the new year before the end of this year.
December is busy – believe me, I know.
It’s tempting to push reflection and planning to “after the holidays,” only to hit January buried in catch-up and lose the momentum of those crucial first months. But a little intentional preparation now pays off in clarity, focus, and a more fulfilling start to the year. You’ll thank yourself later for carving out the time.
Today, I’m sharing the four-step process I use to design a fruitful new year before it even begins.
Four Steps to a Fulfilling and Fruitful New Year
I structure my reflection and planning time each year around the following four steps. Feel free to adopt whatever works for you and toss what doesn’t.
Step One: Reflection
The first thing I do is take a morning and review the year, month by month, writing down milestones throughout the year.
After jotting down milestones for the year, I review my goals from the prior year and how things are shaping up.
The last step in reflecting is to review those milestones and goals, and ask myself, “What do I notice?” “What stands out to me?” I write down these observations and ask: what have I learned, or what can I learn, from this year?
To recap:
Jot Down Milestones: Things that stand out from the last year, month by month, both what went well and what didn’t.
Review Goals: I review the measurable goals I set for the prior year and how I did against each.
Make Observations: After finishing the list of milestones and goals, I review them and ask, “What do I notice? What stands out? Why that might be?”
Capture Learnings: Finally, I ask, “What does this teach me? What have I learned?”
If you are anything like me, you tend to generalize the year – this year was hard, great, challenging, exhausting, etc. We tend to oversimplify when the reality is often more mixed. Either way, we can learn from a deeper examination of the year we’ve just lived through.
💡 Takeaway: It’s incredible the personal insights that come when you take the time to reflect on the year’s milestones, personally and professionally, and ask, “What have I learned?”
For me, this reflection typically takes one or two half-day sessions, and I do it before Christmas. That’s my plan for this morning.
Once I have reflected on the past year, the next few steps are to look ahead, starting with setting and reviewing life priorities.
Step Two: Priorities
I keep a list of priorities, both personally and professionally. I first developed my list years ago with the help of Bobb Biehl’s “Bucket List/I Want Chart.” Each year during this time, I review and update the following:
Lifetime Priorities: My top three life priorities. I review these annually, and they rarely change.
10-Year Priorities: My top three priorities for the next decade. I review these annually, and they rarely change.
3-Year Priorities: My top three priorities for the next three years – these change or get refined annually.
1-Year Priorities: My top 3-5 priorities for this next year – these change each year.
I created these priorities years ago and update them each year, but it will take a little longer if this is your first time writing down your life priorities.
💡 Takeaway: Creating a personal and professional list of your long-term priorities is a great way to give your short-term goals context as you set them in light of what is important to you in the longer term.
The next step is to turn this year’s priorities into measurable goals.
Step Three: Set Measurable Goals
The next step is to review my priorities for this year and ask, “How will I know I’m making progress toward my priorities? How can I measure each of these things?” I then set out measurable goals for each area of my life. Over the years, it took me a while to figure out that turning priorities into things you can measure is helpful.
Think of measurable goals as either inputs or outcomes. An input is something you do that you can measure that will lead to the outcome you want. By contrast, an outcome is something that I can measure that happens and shows I’m on track to achieve my goal.
Let me give you an example.
For example, one goal I had for this year was to do 25 talks, appearances, or articles related to the release of The Rise of Sustainable Giving. In this case, the outcome IS the goal – do 25 talks or appearances. But the inputs might include things like identifying potential conferences, podcasts, publications, and reaching out to individuals.
Against that goal of 25 appearances, we’re currently on track to have completed 79 talks, appearances, or articles in 2025. 🤯 I’m blown away and humbled by the response the book has seen.
The next thing I do is take those goals and write them down so I can track them throughout the year. For me, that’s a one-page spreadsheet with my goals down the side, and months across the top, so I can update how I’m doing as the year progresses, and see where I’m doing well or falling behind, and tweak accordingly.
I aspire to review goals monthly, but I typically review them quarterly.
The final step of my process is to summarize my vision for the coming year in a single word.
Step Four: One-Word Focus
Finally, throughout this process, I am considering which single word I can use to summarize my focus for the coming year.
Of course, this one-word focus is not a new idea – many others use it, including Bobb Biehl, whom I mentioned earlier.
This single word becomes a focusing point, a personal rallying cry – an orienting word or phrase that can be used throughout the year to help make decisions and remind me what is important at this stage in my development.
What is one word that best summarizes what you want to focus on in the coming year?
I typically reflect on my one-word for a couple of weeks. I try out different words or phrases that come to mind. Often, it’s not until January that I settle on that single-word focus. Everyone is different, and for some, this is easier than for others.
When I decide on the word, I put it in big letters at the top of my list of goals and next to my desk, so I’m continually reminded of the focus.
My word for 2023 was ESTABLISH. My goal that year was to establish healthy rhythms, processes, systems, new habits, products, partnerships, content strategies, clients, cash flow, savings, and resourcing. In many ways, 2023 was about establishing Imago Consulting in its first full calendar year of operation.
My word for 2024 was LAUNCH. In some ways, the early part of 2024 felt like a continuation of establish. Still, the focus for 2024 was finishing putting the foundation in place to truly launch from there – to launch my book on recurring giving, a clarified set of offerings, and a new phase of sustainability for Imago Consulting.
My word for 2025 has been LIFTOFF. While I thought 2024 was the year for things to take off, in many ways, 2025 has been the year that the rocket has left the pad. Have you ever noticed that when a rocket is taking off, when the countdown gets to zero, the rocket doesn’t move right away? There might be a lot of smoke and fire, but there is a moment between “T-Minus three, two, one, ZERO” and the rocket starting to move. 2025 has been that initial moment of momentum for me.
2024 was the countdown to launch – “Engine ignition.”
2025 has been liftoff – “We have liftoff.”
There is so much more work to do to get to orbit and reach the 1.1 million nonprofits that need to hear this message. But I’m thrilled with the progress along that journey.
Recap – Four Steps
Here’s a quick recap of the four steps I take to set myself up for a fulfilling and fruitful new year:
Reflect on Milestones – Review the year’s milestones and progress on goals and ask, “What have I learned?”
Review Life Priorities – Set and review life priorities and priorities to focus on in the next three years and one year.
Set Measurable Goals – Turn those priorities into goals that can be measured – either inputs, activities that will help you progress towards your goal, or outcomes that show evidence you are making progress.
Establish a One-Word Focus – Summarize the next year in a single word or phrase that serves as a reminder of what is important throughout the year.
Now it’s your turn.
Schedule Time Before Year End
My encouragement is to look at your calendar right now and find two blocks before the year's end – one for reflection and one for planning. For me, that’s either just before Christmas or in a quiet space between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Take a moment to look at your calendar right now and schedule that time.
Go ahead, I’ll wait. 🤔
Got that time held on your calendar now?
Even if you can only find ONE hour during this holiday season, please do it. You will be thankful you did.
Regardless of when you do it, if you take the time to reflect on the year that was and consider the year to come, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
💡 Takeaway: Take time annually to reflect on the past year's milestones, asking, “What have I learned?” Consider what your life priorities are for this year and beyond. Set measurable goals that align with those priorities, and consider a single word to focus you throughout the year. Schedule that time now.
Let’s give credit where credit is due – I pieced together this system from different leaders over the years, but by far, the two most influential leaders in my life on this rhythm are Bobb Biehl and Jon Acuff.
Bobb Biehl is an author and executive mentor to over 5,000 executive leaders over his career. No one person has influenced my development more than Bobb.
Jon Acuff is a self-described goal nerd and author of 11 books, including All It Takes Is a Goal (and a podcast of the same name), Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done, and Soundtracks.
I highly recommend checking out both Bobb and Jon.
Until next week… Surf’s Up! 🌊
- Dave