Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / How to Plan for Your Best Year

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How to Plan for Your Best Year · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi friends, happy new year.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Simply Wholehearted community.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Amy Wicks, Enneagram Coach, and your personal guide to living your best life.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Here at Simply Wholehearted, we enjoyed talking about the gospel messages your heart was created to hear, Enneagram insights, and how you can be confident that you are the best mom.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you happen to be listening on release day, you are just days away from the new year.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Can you guys believe it?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: 2020.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: You also might still be in No Man's Land Week.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you maybe are not sure what day it is.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is the holidays are winding down, and next week the kids head back to school, and it's our privilege and opportunity to create or reestablish our rhythms.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Last week's special birthday episode, I gave you what is kind of the first part of this New Year's series that we are heading into.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was all about learn.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: What did you like, explore, accomplish, read, and navigate in 2019?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: We used this idea to determine what it was that we were happy with in our current season and what we wanted to learn in 2020.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you'd like more details about that, just get back one episode to 134.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's my special birthday episode and learn with me for 2020.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, I want you to try something different for this coming year.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of my friends and a lot of you might say that New Year's goals aren't for you, and taking time to evaluate your current schedule could be done later.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think differently.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to plan your best year.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I also want you to believe that you can own your time and your calendar instead of owning you.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And one of my secrets to making my calendar work for me is that instead of trying to map out the whole entire year, yeah, you guys, that's so overwhelming.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just plan and set goals for 90 days at a time.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Just your winter months, and then your spring, and then summer, and fall.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you follow the five steps I showed you in episode 134 and you learn about 2019, you learn what you liked and what you didn't, and then you'll know what you want to say yes to in 2020, and what are the things that you don't want to do anymore or allow in this next year.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Again, in my birthday episode, five steps to wholehearted goals will show you how to learn from your past, learn from your present, and decide what you want to learn in 2020.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So now I want you to take a few of those ideas and decide how you want to dictate your time in these coming slow winter months and into the spring sprint, because it's happening.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: It happens every year.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's put pen to paper and make our goals happen.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know that all the studies show, you've heard it all the time, that if you write it down, it actually has a stronger chance of happening.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't write it down, well, it was just a fun idea.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: So if cultivating what matters is a little by little process, we need to create time for these things that matter.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Or it'll just stay there waiting for the elusive someday.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if you don't have a planner yet, don't think you need to run to Target to get one.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I actually have a printable calendar and one that you can use.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's what I use to plan all my podcasts, it's how I schedule my coaching sessions and all things simply hearted.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I put the link in the show notes if you want to go ahead and print some of those off.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: A couple years ago, I took my church small group, which is all moms of little ones, through an expanded edition of my Meaningful Minutes course.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I incorporated elements of the Simply Summer course and soul care teaching and helped them make their minutes count instead of counting down the minutes.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And all of us who raise little ones or are currently, we know that is invaluable.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Really, it's living out Ephesians 5, 15, and 16, and not from a scarcity mindset, fearing that we will lack time or we'll run out of time, but rather from an abundance that the Lord has given us this time to flourish in motherhood.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know we all want more of that.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now that my kids are older, I do feel this time slipping through my fingers faster than sand.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so what little time I do have left with them, I want to make sure it's meaningful.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: After my mom's group covered this idea, it was really fun.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, all of us in the living room trying to talk over kids and crying and nursing and all the things.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I encouraged them to look at just 90 days at a time or just one season.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: One of my friends in my group, Gabby Barker, she shared this idea.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: We had a hair salon school while she was getting a cut, and they all thought it was a brilliant idea.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: They were excited to incorporate this concept, the whole 90 days at a time, in their personal life and on their salon schedule.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And many of my mom friends use this to help them through sports season and the long summer months.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And now, my good friend Angel, who is part of that group and still is, um, we've not only applied the learn concept to our weekly power hour sessions, we have also applied the 90 days at a time.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: She and I have met over the last couple years about business and mom stuff, but in November we got to travel to Nashville together with our newest baby to attend Ballistum.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was so fun.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys, I'm sorry.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I hear my dog in the background playing with the toy.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping it's not too loud.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: But after our trip to Ballistum, we created a mutual business coaching accountability that I love.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful for it.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And if you happen to listen to my podcast with her this summer, you know she's at Enneagram 5.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: You might get to know her a little bit better if you listen back to that episode.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: What I thought I would do is to share with you what our power hour sessions look like and how we incorporate learn and are 90 days at a time to plan our best life.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: First, we establish our priorities on what we learned.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: We get to ask each other to give us a rundown on what happened last week.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And again, we use the learn concept from episode 134 that I shared.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we do this over a phone, or sometimes we get to do this over coffee.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's different every week.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know that she's going to ask me this and she knows I'm going to ask her what she's learned.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've been thinking about it all week.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I've also now started taking note of what those things are, what I liked, what I explored, what I accomplished, what I would redo, and what I navigated, and I write them down.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: This helps me two ways.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: One, I can actually remember what it is I've done, and I'll celebrate it.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then I begin to see what it is I am doing and how I'm actually spending my time.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's good stuff, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: We've also gotten to know each other's priorities this way, too.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: We've learned what our soul care routine is and what it needs to be, what family time looks like and what it needs to be, work hours and what is possible, and how we want to invest in our friendships and of course all the radiant church things we enjoy being a part of.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: This process really reminds us what we want to say yes to, and now we know what we need to write down.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Angel has two little kids, and I have three big kids and a new puppy, so our schedules look totally different, but we do help give each other perspective and speak into what's healthy in our unique stages of life.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I can remind her from where I'm sitting that you know this time flies by really fast and what she's doing is amazing, and she's a great mom, and she's really being there for her kids, and she also gets to remind me maybe to slow down and that I still have plenty of time as well, and to enjoy the important things.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: This really helps us to be accountable to one another, and it also forces us to write down what it is we're going to do.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Then when we look at the full 90 days, it feels manageable.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Even the week ahead, the next seven days.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's just long enough to gauge the traction we want to or need to make.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it also helps when we've had a not so awesome week, because that does happen.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: It helps us keep the long goal in mind.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you may not have a business yet, or you maybe work outside the home and have a lot of your schedule dictated for you.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: But either way, this method of planning and deciding what you will say yes to in 2020 and for the next 90 days can really help you give your best year.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I created an online workshop a while ago.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's called the Meaningful Minutes Workshop, and it's just this it's just this really simple way of going through what I'm going to share now through with some video and some printables and some things like that if you want some accountability.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put the links in the show notes.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: But to give you a general idea, you first are gonna take your calendars and you're gonna map out your monthly season.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna look at those next three months.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: You want to look in a natural season.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: It tends to be where some of the same things, same sports and stuff like that will happen.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna look at all the big events that you might have in the next three months.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Is it are there vacations, weekend travel, out-of-town guest?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna be due with your next baby?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have some days off work or does your husband?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Are there school breaks?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: You want to put anything on there that's not repeated and specific to that season.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're gonna put maybe the once or twice a month activities which fit in your current calendar time frame.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And if you happen to work outside the home or have an irregular schedule, but you know what it is for months at a time, this is a great time to write down those hours.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You might want to write your work from home hours or a five-day-a-week schedule later on in the calendar.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one of the ways I recommend if you like, you can write all these things color-coded, different pens, the different colored pencils, whatever you would like, just to keep it interesting and different.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: But now you're going to look at the weekly rhythm.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: These are the things that can really be a game changer once you get on paper and you realize how many things you're doing or what you need to do.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: You put things like the weekly lesson, sports, preschool, mom's day out, kid care swap, maybe weekly mealtimes with friends or family, your library story time.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the library story time was awesome.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I hardly had overdue books.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Not so true anymore.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I also used to put my grocery shopping days so that way I would know what would work that week and no one would get too worn out, and we would combine it with other fun things in the schedule.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then the daily.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's certain stages that require a little more attention to the daily routine.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: You might need to schedule sleep time, nap time, or maybe any daily routine you need to work around.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps childcare drop-off, different things like that.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that Angel and I do is we schedule our work time.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: I like to call it tiger time.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: For Angel, she only gets two hours split apart in her day that she can really focus on her business.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: But she's fierce about it and she's learned how to navigate around it, navigate play dates, nap time, other fun things, other things that she wants to do.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: So she makes sure she gives herself those two hours every day to focus on her business.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, planning out 90 days or even a week at a time, it takes lots of practice and it's in constant flux.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like you constantly have to be flexible with it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like a budget.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: It takes time to learn how to make it work for your family, and it will change as your family grows, as you grow, because your calendar and rhythm of life is going to change and grow and shift.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: But when we take time to write down how we plan to spend our minutes, it helps us operate out of a wholehearted abundance.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now we have a healthier perspective of time.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're confident of our purpose, and we now have a plan of action in place.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: You may have tuned into this episode with a slight eye roll at the ready, wanting this to be something you would want to do, but not sure if it was for you.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the truth: you may have some objections and obstacles to overcome when it comes to planning your best year.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: We all have the hangups or bad experiences when we set goals or make a plan.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the Enneagram is here to help us understand what those might be.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: But no longer do you need to hide behind the excuse planning and goal setting is not for you.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can discover what your limiting beliefs are and how to overcome those lies.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's the deal.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready to hear them?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And more importantly, are you ready to move past then?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm going to pretend that you said yes, and you and I are going to sit down for coffee and go over the limitations you might place on yourself to planning your best year and how you can grow past them.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: For a type one, perfection might be your obstacle.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Remember how I just got done saying that you might have to write and rewrite and adjust and change.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, here's the deal.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't exist.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, it doesn't.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to try it out.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to give it a whirl and see if it can fit you and fit your family and if it can fit the kind of rhythm that you want to have.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So my challenge for you is to just try it.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Try it for 2020.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Make this one of the things that you want to see if it would help you have your best year.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: For the type two, your challenge is going to make time to do this for yourself.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like you have to really be purposeful about soul care and not just giving all of your time away.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's important for your type twos to plan in plenty of margin because you want to help all the people and you're really great at that, but you need to take time to care for yourself.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So this might be one of those things like planning your best year, learning from 2019, deciding what you want to learn for 2020.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: You might have to purposely schedule that time for yourself and put it on the calendar so you can give yourself the gift of planning and writing it down.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that's gonna be your challenge.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that you will do that for yourself.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Type three.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, I'm with you.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal: you might be overwhelmed by all the ideas that you have, all the project, all the things that you want to do and accomplish.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: But remember, take a deep breath and you're only gonna think about 90 days at one time.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, when you do the learn process from episode 134, you're gonna write down all the things that you want to do, all the things that you really want to look ahead and go, I liked that about 2020 and I accomplished this and I explored that and I navigated this.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: But right now, you're only writing down what you could possibly do 90 days at a time.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm speaking to myself here because I always want to do five projects at once.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't work.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I need to choose one thing at a time and do it really well.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I write my type four friends.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't feel unique enough to write down your goals and your plans and your schedule.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Your schedule is unique in itself.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's not ordinary, it's not mundane, it's special and purposeful, especially designed around you.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can take the calendar that I've offered for you, or you know, take your own that has the cute cover that is totally you and has the spiral that you like, or the not spiral, or whatever it is that you like or don't like.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna give yourself the opportunity to write down what it is that you want to do and how you want to grow and how you want your family to grow.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna be special.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And not everyone does it.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that you are doing this for yourself is pretty awesome.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: All right, my type five friends.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal: you will keep strategizing and you won't do it.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: But this will really help you.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: This will help you go, okay, for 90 days, what's the one thing that I can do?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna strategize about it, but you're gonna do it because you know in 90 days you're gonna look back and you're gonna celebrate what you have accomplished, what you have explored, what you've navigated, what you like.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you're hopefully not gonna have a whole lot of what you would redo.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I bet you'll have a lot of read on there as well.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So you should definitely keep track of what you're reading.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Type six.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: You all might be fearful about getting your schedule right, or even what your friends will think when you create a schedule for yourself.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: What if you're what if your schedule now, when you realize what it is what you want to do and what you want to create time for?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe it'll limit some of the activities that you can do with your friends.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you'll have to say yes to some good things in order to say yes to the better things.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is about you, my friend.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: What is it the Lord has put in your heart to accomplish in 2020?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that he says that he wants your schedule to look like?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to write it down.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to try it out.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: And don't worry about what others are gonna think.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: I bet they're all gonna celebrate you.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for my type 7 friends, I love you guys.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all, you just have so much fun, and you know what?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: You should write down all the fun you're gonna have.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: But you might be worried that a calendar and time-blocking structure like this would limit your freedom.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: It might be or feel too restrictive, but it doesn't have to.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: This actually will show you the boundaries that you have for all the fun that you want to create and all the things that you want to do, not only for yourself but for your kids.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So don't be afraid about getting boxed in.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Having this time-blocking structure actually expands your availability and expands your ability to get all the things done that you want to do.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: So give it a try.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: All right, type eights.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: I love you, type eights.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have some good friends out there, and you know what?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: You'll have to know what's best for you.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you try this out.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is just an opportunity to learn about yourself and to make sure what you're doing is really the best for you.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Type 9s, hey, I know you're pretty sure it'll all just work out.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the deal.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you fail to plan, well, you might be planning to fail, and I don't want that for you.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now that statement feels a little extreme, but there's such power in writing down, writing down what it is that you want, taking the time to explore what is on your heart and the ideas and the goals and the dreams that the Lord has put in your mind, and the gift of writing them down and creating margins so it might actually happen.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, do any of these feel familiar to you?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a few of them ring a bell.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, either way, I hope you make the choice to grow past these objections and limiting beliefs and learn from 2019 and plan what you want to learn in 2020 so you can have your best year yet.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: In January, we're going to continue our conversation about wholehearted rhythms and our annual word, worship, and write episodes.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Not only am I excited about next month, but I'm also excited about all the goodness that's going to be here for you on the podcast all next year.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed these last two episodes as you think about the year ahead.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: It would mean the world to have you share these episodes with your girlfriends and leave a rating with a review so others know what to expect and that they are welcome to join this community.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Also, you can email me anytime or tag Simply Wholehearted on social media, or maybe even send me a direct message on Instagram once you've tested out the five steps to wholehearted goals and how to plan your best year.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And let me know what you've learned.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, until next time, let's invite others to join us as we pursue perspective, purpose, and plans for a simply wholehearted life.