Here's the good news: This is the FINAL WEEK of the year that was 300 years.

[deep breath]

I usually love this last week of the year.

It's usually my strategizing and planning week - the quiet time when no one else is working.

But this year, it feels 10 times harder to focus.

And the uncertainty of what 2021 will look like feels like a great excuse to avoid thinking ahead.

Have you felt that too?

If you missed the live Planning with Purpose workshop (or if you made it!),

I want to honor the difficulties and weirdness of 2020 and share some bite-size tools with you to help you transition into the new year.

So, over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a weekly email with an activity, prompt, or tool to help you get unstuck and plan for the coming year. 

In this series of 5, you will receive emails on these topics:

1. 2020 retrospective and gratitude (Scroll down to read this TODAY!)

2. Hopes and goals for 2021

3. Identify your motivations and purpose

4. What you need to reach your goals

5. How to visualize the future to make your goals come true

TODAY IS DAY 1: 2020 RETROSPECTIVE AND GRATITUDE.

For this activity, you only need:

• a notebook or paper

• something to write with

• a quiet place to reflect

Step one:

Reflect: What is one word that sums up your personal experience of 2020? Write it down in your notebook.

Step two:

Draw a line down the middle of a fresh page. Take 2 minutes to rapidly list all the significant experiences that happened for you/to you this year. They may be bad, good, or neutral.

Step three:

Next, on the other side of the notebook next to each thing you wrote, make a list of “and it’s good because...”

Alternatively, you can make the 2nd column "What I learned." For example...

Step four:

Reflect: What are you grateful for?

I absolutely love this meditation led by my friend David Ngo which I often share with others and have led many times:

Here's the link to try it out.

What came up for you? What did you learn about 2020?

If this served you, take a picture of your notebook and share it on Instagram or Linkedin and tag me (@juliafirestonecoaching on Instagram and Julia Firestone on Linkedin) so others can try it too.

Stay tuned for the next prompt in 2021!

You got this.

Julia