2 Simple Strategies For Planning For The Next Year

Strategies matter

strategy/picture of a person making plans on paper

There are simple strategies for planning. But would you agree that life is full of ups and downs and sometimes has a few sideways thrown in, too?

When things go wrong or don’t go as planned, or when something happens to throw us off balance and we doubt ourselves, it can be tough to deal with. However, life will always present challenges, and we can’t control everything. Nor should we try.

But if we are asking God for direction, we need to believe we will receive it. Besides:

It’s not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you that makes the difference.

But even though life is unpredictable, we should still plan. And that means goals. For me, having a goal is like the carrot at the end of the stick. It keeps me motivated and on track.

Simple strategies that help

Strategy 1. Focus on Your Strengths

We’re a bunch of contradictions – sorry to break it to you. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad; sometimes hopeful, sometimes pessimistic; sometimes childish, and sometimes mature. We also have strengths and weaknesses that affect what we do and how we do it, but we tend to put more focus on our weaknesses and not our strengths.

A strength is something that you do consistently well– it’s something you’re just able to do, you’re hard-wired, because God has ordained it, to do it well, and you get an inherent satisfaction from doing it. It could be tackling and solving complex problems, empathizing with people, having a lively imagination, or being able to make the perfect omelet.

Focusing on what you do well rather than what you’re not so good at makes all kinds of sense. It is a strategy all on its own. When you look at what you’re not good at, you feel bad about yourself and your ability, but when you focus on and play to your strengths, you’re guaranteed to get results and can even eliminate any negative effect your weaknesses might have. So one strategy might be to plan a way to eliminate negative self-talk.

Read the story of Moses for a quick study of what happens when you tell God you can’t do something because you are not equipped. (Exodus 4: 10-14)

Strategy 2. Set Things Up Ahead Of Time

Sure, there will be times when you can just head into something, do it brilliantly, and get the result you were hoping for (normally if you’re playing to your strengths), but other times you might blunder forward, wing it, and not get the result you wanted. Whatever challenges or opportunities you’re facing, you’ll stand a much better chance of getting a great result if you set things up to succeed ahead of time.

We do that by asking ourselves, what exactly do we want to happen? What is our strategy? Do we even have one? What solution, outcome, or result would be great? Get really clear on the outcome you want from what’s facing you and how it would feel to get the outcome you’re looking for. Then start breaking it down. What can you do to set things up so that your desired outcome happens? Are there things you need to let go of if you are going meet your goals? And to ensure the best outcome, what are you willing to do?

I’ve been doing this myself this month. I love January. It’s dark and dreary and gives me time to reflect on this past year and plan for the next.

What were my

-wins?

–misses?

-utter failures?

By answering those questions, I can plan for the next year, always realizing, of course, that God can change my plans anytime He wants to. And I invite Him to. If I’m planning outside His will, I want to know it. And probably those misses and failures I asked about earlier were precisely because of that reason.

God is not against STRATEGies

If you are one of those that thinks planning is not allowing for God to interrupt, frankly, you are wrong. Read the book of Joshua. Talk about strategy, or maybe I should say strategies. There were certainly more than one, because there were so many different types of battles.

I would even suggest that when we are plan we can count on God to direct even the details if we are walking daily with Him. Let me give an example from my own life.

My EXAMPLE

I’d been thinking about my Word of the Year starting after Christmas. I had a number of them. But the more I thought about what I wanted to accomplish this next year, a new novel (I’ve been working on it for years, but editors always suggest one never publishes their first novel as their first novel), another non-fiction, and an Advent book. And I have a few more things in the works.

I also want to finish my life coach studies. That’s a lot. So it means I need a good plan. It means there are things I need to eliminate from my life, simple things like repeating routines I don’t need, storing things I no longer need, that kind of thing.

**God will redirect**

So I know I need a word that not only keeps me on track but also clarifies the steps I need to take, encourages me, and inspires me.

I’ve finally settled on it. But here’s the part I want you to know about. While I was deciding, this particular word showed up EVERYWHERE! I mean, in books, in TV shows, in conversations, in advertisements, in our pastor’s sermons, everywhere. I couldn’t NOT see it.

That’s what I mean by God always inserts Himself in the most interesting ways when we are planning something. When Joshua was considering taking Jericho, what did God do? He used a prostitute to help!

And we don’t have to worry that we’ll make the wrong plan because, once again, if we’re walking close to God, He will redirect us.

It also doesn’t mean our plan will look a little different day to day, but having the structure in place will make all the difference, and should you have to veer from your plan, you’ll get right back to it. And when you do, you will probably find you’re still right on track.

I’ll give you my Word of the Year soon. But for now, let me ask:

Have you thought about next year?

Do you have goals?

Have you made a plan?

We’ll talk more about this next week. Until then, God bless each of you.