Why You Should Include Your Husband or Wife in Your Yearly Planning
January, or Planuary as we've called it before, is that magical time of year when you take a step back, reflect on the past and make big plans for the future. There's just something about the new year - as cliched as it might be - that lends itself to fresh starts, resolutions, resets and power-ups.
Last year we put together a nice little planning sheet and video on Kicktastic and we'll be using that for 47m as we move into 2014. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. Nope. I want to ask you if you're doing any of this planning, prepping and polishing at home, too.
The truth is, when you have your own company many of those dreams, goals and plans directly affect your personal life, too. Are you including your husband or wife in that planning? If not, you should be.
Why? Because your ability to stay focused, healthy, calm and productive stems from what goes on at home. When that's out of whack your work will suffer. Because you need to be in sync with your husband/wife in all aspects of life, not just when the kids go to karate or when it's date night. Because a fresh perspective from someone who loves you, but may not be in the trenches with you day in and day out, is invaluable. Because they're your husband or wife! (I should have just said that)
Let's take it step further, though. Life is busy. I'm looking at my oldest daughter and trying to figure out when the heck she went from 2 to 8 years old. Until last year Ashley and I just kind of jumped into the New Year with a couple of resolutions and too many things already going on. Life kept moving and so did we.
But last year we decided to spend some time away from everything and do some planning for ourselves and our family in addition to what we'd done for FortySeven Media. We applied the same basic ideas, but put them in the context of what we wanted our family to look like the next year.
Being busy with a purpose is way better than busy by the seat of your pants because you're just letting life happen to you.
For Ashley and I that meant saying no to some things that probably would have just kept going otherwise. It meant that we got to finally start that hand-stamped t-shirt company we'd been talking about for years. It meant that we got to prioritize all our projects around the house and have a plan and budget for getting them done. Most of all, though - it meant we were on the same page for everything. Our money, our budget, our house, our giving, our kids and our health.
A year later and we just upped the ante and spent a whole day and night away last weekend. It was even better. We had time to plan and time to grab food or step away from it when we got what we like to call “planning” head. Or “I just can't think about this anymore” head. This year we've got lots of new plans for Last Night Ago, some big changes in how we're approaching our ongoing adoption and a plan to finally get back in shape after years of making excuses. Not to mention a load of home improvement projects. Let's just say we'll be busy.
But busy with a purpose is way better than busy by the seat of your pants because you're just letting life happen to you.
Step up and choose to make your own adventures this year - not just with your business partner, but with your life partner, too. You'll be glad you did.
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