Some people prefer New Year’s over Christmas. I like to call those people alcoholic (is that allowed?) I’ve never liked New Year’s whether the eve or the day. New Year’s Eve is this high pressure to do something fun night, but unless you drink or like to gorge on food, what is there to do? The things I like are closed. The same happens with New Year’s Day. Don’t get me wrong, I love that it’s a holiday and gives me an excuse to get a week off between Christmas and New Year’s, but there isn’t anything particularly great about it. Yes, that’s mostly my fault because I haven’t come up with any great traditions to make it special, but by the time Christmas is over, who has the energy to do anything? You know, besides people desperate for an excuse to drink too much. As someone who’s never had alcohol I’m clearly missing out on a popular tradition – a hangover. The one tradition that developed in my family over the years was to have the house clear of all Christmas decorations to start the new year fresh and clean. As a workaholic, you’d think I would love that tradition – an excuse to work – but it’s always a little sad saying goodbye to all the beautiful decorations and excuses to eat too many desserts (over-eating sugar is one of my favourite Christmas traditions; the wise men brought gold, frankincense and myrrh, but if they really wanted to make Mary and Joseph happy, they should’ve brought some cinnamon buns).
Teasing aside, there are two traditions I’ve made for New Years that I really enjoy. The first is I take some time on New Year’s Day to go over my thankful journal for the year in order to remind myself about the good things that happened and to thank God for all He has done. I’ve written about my thankful journal before, but in case it’s something you might be interested in trying for this year (it’d make a great resolution), here is a quick summary. Every day I write 10 things I’m thankful for that happened that day whether watching a show I love, seeing someone I like, or even biting my tongue when I wanted to give a snappy comment. I started with five about twenty years ago and it grew to 10 as I got better at it. After my list I give myself a compliment for the day, which is like considering what would God and/or a loving parent want to say to me. It’s nothing mind blowing, but it’s good to acknowledge because we all need some encouragement. Even better, encouragement from ourselves tends to stick better than compliments others make since we can brush those off easier. Third, I give a blessing to someone I saw that day, so this list isn’t all about me. Fourth, I ask for three things because God wants us to recognize what we need, pray for it, and then appreciate when answers come. The final thing I have on my calendar is a list of month highlights, which include accomplishments and big experiences. This reminds me about my goals for the month and then makes going through my list of year highlights a lot easier on New Year’s Day. It’s amazing what you can do in a year and how far you can come when you’re trying to grow.
This leads to the second tradition I enjoy: Planning for the year. Yes, I’m a planner, so I get more enjoyment out of this than many others, but it’s a valuable tool for everyone to use unless we’re okay letting life direct our course instead of being in control of our own life (at least as in control as we can be). As the saying goes: If you fail to plan, you plan to snail… or is it tail? Both work because if you don’t plan, your sense of progress will be limited and how fast you move will be very slow, so you snail. If you don’t plan, you’ll also fall behind, so you tail. I might have been slow to get married and have kids, but that wasn’t from a lack of planning; it was… the way things worked out (I was as in control as I could be)… Flail! If you fail to plan, you plan to flail. That makes sense, too, because without a plan you end up drowning in all the options. It’s like sitting down to watch a movie, but you don’t have one in mind, so you end up scrolling through your options and waste an hour not finding anything.
You probably guessed I was being a bit of knob by purposely not using the real cliché: If you fail to plan you plan to need ale. I’m sure that’s it, and explains why so many people need alcohol on New Year’s Eve. They want to forget about how they wasted time this past year.
So how do we plan for the year
- What are the 5 things you want said at your funeral? This is the question I like to use for knowing how to plan your overall life. If you know how you want others to describe you and your life, you have a good idea of how you should be living it. As shared in one of my books, I spent two years writing my list and I ended up with a list of 10 because I couldn’t make it any shorter, but I’m a workaholic, so it’s fine.
- What is your retirement plan? I have a friend who has had a target of retiring by 50 and he’s almost there. His life is child and pet free and he’s been working full time for several decades, so he’s been making the right decisions to get him there. My “retirement plan” looks very different. I don’t ever plan on not working. If people want to pay me to listen to them talk, how can I say no to that, especially when most older people complain about being lonely? That being said, I invest heavily into my RRSPs because I was late getting in to the game and I want my wife to have something if I die early like my dad. Plans need backups.
- What is your 5 and 10 year plan? My 5 and 10 year plan are rather sparse besides knowing some trips I want to take my kids on because I know with three young girls there is a lot out of my control. That being noted, I make sure to visit my mom regularly because I know in 5-10 years she’ll physically limited, starting to have dementia, or dead, so I need to take advantage of this time as best I can while she’s still healthy. A plan can prevent regrets.
- What is your one-year plan and/or your goals for the year? This category is particularly relevant for this lesson because we’re looking at New Year’s in a couple days. This can be as simple as starting a thankful journal like I use to help me recognize how each day is full of good things, which is particularly helpful when my brain is naturally negative. I’ve already been considering my goals for 2026 because… I’m a planner. I’ve also needed to book a few things and I wanted to take advantage of Black Friday sales. The following list are some of the things I have planned (or tentatively planned). I’m including them in case they can inspire you. This doesn’t include my weekly routines of going to church and visiting my mom, but those also fill up my schedule. For me, a full schedule means better use of time and less thinking in the moment.
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- Money: Buy RRSPs in Feb., do taxes in Mar., pay quarterly personal and house taxes, and tithe in Dec.
- Book a spring and fall guy’s afternoon to Activate in Burlington.
- Go to my annual NHL Buffalo game with my three friends (and plan for next years).
- Go to Fan Expo in August (because I’m that cool)
- Go to my family’s annual week trip (a new tradition so I take a full week to be with my girls) and plan for next years. It also gives me something to look forward to.
- Work on paying off debt, which means working as much as I can, limiting expenses, and avoiding any plans on upgrading cars, furniture, or anything big.
- Consider activities to have the girls in including what camps they should attend in the summer.
- Officially finish my book for 2025 and get my 2026 book moving (I have a goal of publishing a book every year from 2020 to 2030)
- Maintain 5 work outs a week to get back into good shape and then dropping to 4 times likely by the spring (I recently increased it since I now have some more time at night).
- What are your month goals? My month goals will include the items from the list above, but they will develop in the actual month painting and such in the addition. Giving timelines can help our brains relax a little.
- What are your day goals? These are the to-do lists I make the night before and are constantly being worked on, but if you’re a real keener you can make day goals like “I want to make someone smile today,” or “I want to say hi to at least one stranger every day.”
May this year start with encouragement and plans that you can follow through in order to be where you want to be this time next year.
Rev. Chad David, ChadDavid.ca, learning to love dumb people (like me)
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