In case you didn’t start thinking about your ‘year ahead’ planning back in October and getting the most out of The last 90 days! of your year, use some time now over the holidays to reflect on what you loved, hated, missed out on or had a blast trying through 2022. Despite using the last 90 days of the year to start forming some new habits, I love trying to use some time over the holidays to think ahead to next year. Not like New Years resolutions planning, but just things I want to focus my energy on for the year.

It doesn’t have to be about specific plans, or goals, just a lighthearted thought game for yourself, or include your family!

Think about random categories you could each pick something for. Use categories like what new foods to sample, or what local spots to explore, which areas of the house to declutter, what books to read, what new hobbies or activities to try, what new habits to create or old ones to break, or what topic of interest to learn more about. You could even add things like going to a different type of event or venue.

Write down your favourite categories on a sheet of paper, get creative with it and have some fun. Get in some great family bonding! Write everyone’s name under each category and let everyone pick one or two things for each category.

Making it a family exercise is fun because you can use it to help plan your year ahead (check out some great tips from my post: Organizing isn’t always about the bins! Plan for the next year!) Or at least have everyone in the family start thinking about how they want to spend their time, and what they want to focus on.

The idea is really just to get a bit out of your comfort zone! There’s so much more to life than staying where you’re comfortable, AND you may even discover a new talent or passion!

If you like posters maybe make it into a big family planning poster night!

If your kids are small you may need to help them think beyond their current world. Encourage them that going to exotic new places does not mean going to Toys R Us instead of Walmart! Or remind them that trying new foods does not mean just adding ketchup or chocolate sauce to “create” new foods!

You may need to remind the family of budget limitations to keep from having everything get too out of hand. But also keep in mind that the cost will be spread out through the year.

So grab some corn for popping, and a marker for marking, and some paper for…well…writing it all down!

Thanks for coming home!