The most wonderful time of the year

It’s that time of year again – the “most wonderful time of the year”! It is my favourite time of the year, I admit. There’s happiness in the air, this expectation of celebration and good things. There’s the relief of having made it this far and anticipation of new beginnings in the new year. There's Christmas carols to sing, Christmas cards to send, and of course gifts to give and receive. 

This year, I am adding a new item to the list that is making the season even more exciting. I learnt from John Maxwell that it is also a good time to start planning for the year ahead. In his book “The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth” he mentions that his favourite time of the year is the week after Christmas. It is then that he sits and evaluates the past year and plans for the coming year.

I cannot promise that I will sit still in the week after Christmas long enough to comprehensively plan my 2020, given that that time is set aside to catch up with family and friends, so I am starting early. I have learnt over the past year that improvement does not happen by accident. If I want each of my subsequent years to be better than the last one, I cannot wait for the 31^st of December to make some dopamine fuelled, half-hearted new year’s resolutions that will probably not see the end of January.

I attended a Straight Forward Financial Growth session on November 30^th, which has given me a framework on which to build my year’s financial plan. I am reviewing my schedule to allocate ample time to spend time with God, to exercise, to rest, to study and grow and to build relationships. Life is busy as the year winds down but I am finding time to at least lay out the various frameworks that I will then flesh out during the holiday.

My 2020 will definitely be better than 2019, and my 2021 even better still, so help me God.