I’m a born planner so I’m loving this time of year! For the last week or so, I’ve been thinking about how I want to shape the year ahead of me. I love the feeling of a blank (ish) sheet of paper in front of me on which I can design my life, emphasise the things that worked well and reduce the things that didn’t. I’ve been busy annoying my husband with questions like “so, how do you want 2019 to be?” and my kids with “what did you like most about the year we had?” I’ve been listening to Tim Ferris’ podcast on the magic of mindfulness and reading his article on how to conduct a “past year review” as well as Tony Robbins' article on “2019 Goals Mapping”. I’ve been thinking about my home life, my work ambitions, holiday plans, professional development, health and fitness, finances, ideal week and more and I’m looking forward to a fun 2019! Here are a few techniques I’m going to try this year to make sure I get the most out of the year and approach it with a framework to support me. 1. Try meditation (again) I started meditating last year for the first time and doing just 5 minutes a day was valuable, but somehow I dropped it along the way. I’m going to give it another shot. 2. No complaint experiment Tim Ferris talked about a 21 day no complaint experiment during which he couldn’t talk about something negatively (unless he also spoke about a constructive improvement). This is something I think I could implement at home, potentially with the kids. 3. Reduce wardrobe decisions I don’t have a complicated wardrobe by any means but I definitely can make it something I don’t have to think about every day if I do 5 minutes of planning at the beginning of the week. I’m excited to try this! 4. Journaling I’ve done a gratitude journal on and off but am picking it up again. I’ve splurged and ordered the (very hard to find) Five Minute Journal recommended by Tim Ferris too! 5. Inbox zero The busier my life gets, the more my inbox typically gets out of control. This year I’m going to start my work year with inbox zero and try to get it there each week. 6. Ideal week I love the idea of mapping out my week, both from a personal/ home perspective but also from how I schedule my important work tasks. I’ve been working on mapping out my ideal week and am going to schedule my calendar against this year. I still have a bit of work to do to get some of these things in place for the beginning of the year but am excited to start 2019 with a plan! Are there any new techniques or approaches that you’re going to try in 2019? If so share them with me now or leave a comment below.