10 Stages of My Planning Process
Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.—Prov. 16:3
Though many might call Christmas their favorite time of year (with good reason), I actually find the week after Christmas is my personal favorite.
It’s the time I begin planning for the next year.
Now some may scoff at this (like my youngest son). It seems rather Type A and you’d prefer to be more spontaneous.
Some may want to plan but don’t have the time.
Or you have the time but don’t know how.
Or you like to plan but your plans seem a little flat and unmotivating.
Wherever you are, I hope this post gives you a peek into ten stages of my own planning process—and how I move forward in God’s Story as I live out my days.
Carve Out Time to Plan
This is the first step. Trust me: it doesn’t just happen. When we make space to pull back, this is how we move forward.
You can do this any time you need it—even if it’s not January! Just set a day and a time—and then keep it!
Review the Past Year
Planning is hard work, so I start with something easy—looking at what already has happened. This also serves the dual purpose of setting my heart on God and encouraging thanksgiving.
So round up the family calendar, your journals or planners, and remind yourself of what you’ve done. Sometimes that will remind you of stories you have forgotten. Write these things down and then spend some time thanking God for them in preparation for the next step.
Even if it has been a hard year, looking at it from the standpoint of an annual review helps to put things in perspective. We don’t know what is yet to come, and even if it will still be difficult, acknowledging it and planning for the future may help to approach it differently.
Highlight the Lessons Learned
Not only do we want to see what God has done, it’s important to review what we’ve learned.
As you review your year, take it a little further. How have you changed? Try to identify at least 1-2 things this past year has taught you.
One of my key lessons this year is to trust the unseen sovereignty of God. I have become more aware that what I see is not what He sees. That has brought great comfort to my heart as we face some big things in 2023.
As we venture into unknown territory, I want to learn to trust that He has reasons, solutions, and plans that we do not know at this time and He will unfold them when the time is right. I can trust that when I need it, He will see to it that we have it then—and not before that.
Review God’s Story
If your plans feel flat or unmotivating, this tip is for you.
Sometimes when we only plan for this lifetime, we will plan small. I like to pause a moment to pray and reorient myself, to remind myself that this year in my short breath of a life is caught up in something far grander.
When I align my plans in light of His plans for me, his church, his kingdom, things are put into an eternal context. I also plan things that are not ordinary, but Kingdom oriented. This gives purpose to my ordinary life. It reframes my suffering. It challenges me to address my sins. It gives hope when the days feel long.
Reviewing God’s story helps me to live larger as the themes of Scripture interpret and flavor my life.
Review Your Season
Planning wisely means starting from where you are, not where you aren’t. Begin with your season: Where am I at right now? This can be literal, figurative, or a life stage.
Is it time to rest? Do I need to slow down? Am I awaiting a new arrival—some kind of change? Am I in full swing?
Wherever God has you, learn to accept, trust, and make the most of where you’re at. Knowing this helps me to plan in alignment with where God has me and challenges me to go deeper.
Envision Your Growth in Grace
If you want to remodel your kitchen, it’s not enough just to dismantle it. You need to know where you’re going.
So this is the fun part of the planning process: where do you want to be in 12 months? How do you want to grow in grace?
Do you want to set up a spiritual trellis in your life so you abide in Christ?
Do you want to improve your family routines?
Do you want to steward yourself better to serve better?
Where do you want to connect the dots of Scripture to your life?
Are there things you want to do more or less of? Are there things you would like to start or stop to help you start moving forward? Are there things you have put off for years that you’d like to accomplish? Are there things you want to practice and improve on?
After you have brainstormed a list, go back through and run it through the “eternity” test: Will these help me become more like Christ? Will it help me build up the church? If yes, how?
If you can answer those questions, this will help set you up for the next step.
Declutter Your Soul
In order to add these new things, we cannot just pack more on. This, I think, is the step that many skip—and why we fail to move forward with our good intentions.
This is one of the key steps in planning—and sometimes, it is much harder to declutter your soul than it is to declutter a house. But when we do this, we lessen the load, we take only what is needed, and we make room for the new.
Some of us know what we need to let go of—and if you do, write it down.
If you’re not sure where to start, start by looking at the things in your life that you really don’t want to continue doing.
What isn’t working in your life—your home, family, work?
What do you want relinquish, have less of?
More importantly, what is working against God’s aims for us in Christ?
Break It Down
I find working in 3-month or quarterly chunks a bit easier. I might have a goal for a year, but I break this down into some larger pieces.
So if I want to focus on changing my eating habits this coming year, I define what that means—cutting out refined sugars and substituting it with healthier options; reducing my gluten intake and learning how to bake with gluten-free flours; and incorporating more produce in my diet.
But that is too much to try to do all at once, so I can take one of these things and focus on developing it for three months without worrying about all the rest. Once that is in hand, I set another goal towards the larger goal and tackle another area for three months. That way, I am not doing it all at once but breaking it into smaller goals.
This is something to do also with larger projects for the year. Break it down into larger chunks and assign it to one or two quarters.
Identify the Next Step
From quarterly chunks, we break it down even further.
So for my example on changing eating habits, I need to ask myself the question: What will it take to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my diet? What keeps me from doing it? My answers to these questions then form a list of more tangible items.
Sometimes even this is too big. To break it down even further to the next step I can take from where I am at, I keep pushing it back—so what do I need to do this? I keep asking this question until I identify something that I can do right now.
This does take time, which is why we need to carve out time, or even go on an extended retreat. But as I reverse engineer my goal, I get to a point where I can actually start moving—and that’s how I begin to gain momentum.
If I take time to do this, the bonus is I also have a path to take as I follow the steps I have reverse engineered.
Share With a Friend
Though this may sound like a lot, it’s actually the easy part.
The hard part is actually doing it. And for that, it is best to enlist the help of a friend.
For me, I do not tell everybody everything. Rather, I prayerfully consider if there is one friend in my life that I can share one of my goals with. Enlist their counsel to help you evaluate and grow in this area.
Conclusion
Are you ready for the new year? I hope this will help you to not only reflect on God’s faithfulness in the past but help you move forward in the year to come.
