Day 31: Regularly Reviewing your Vision

A few days ago, I envisioned what my life would be like in a year. I detailed how every aspect of my life would feel and how it would be.

Many productivity books and coaches recommend detailed yearly, 3-year, or even 5-year planning. However, I had often put it off in the past, which turned out to be a significant mistake.

I used to think I had a pretty concrete plan in my head and that my vision of the future was quite clear. But now, I realize how wrong I was because we are all subject to daily fluctuations in our state of mind.

It's not for nothing that we often say, "sleep on it." In an article, I explicitly recommend doing this to hack your mood. Even though we believe we're ourselves all the time, we change every day. This is fascinating because if we are a different person today than we will be tomorrow, our vision of the future today will also be different from what we will have tomorrow.

I noticed this in my own yearly planning. I had a concrete vision of the future, but even after only a year, I could observe significant changes in my mood and my day-to-day expectations.

I created the yearly plan in one day and then sat down the next day and the day after that to reread and refine it from start to finish. On the third day, I formulated three tasks for each section.

By the way, I will soon go into detail about how I created the plan and the methods I use in a separate, longer article. I'm currently working on my own piece with how-tos and FAQs. Subscribe to my newsletter, and I'll notify you when the article is ready.

Weekly Review of Your Yearly Plan

Today, on Sunday, I took a few days' break to reread my yearly plan. Two things here are intriguing:

1. It's generally beneficial to regularly reread your life plan because it immediately refocuses you on your own goals and motivates you to take action.
2. Some priorities have already changed. I adjusted and revised small parts of the plan.

I found that the plan helps me better motivate myself. When I feel a bit down and lack motivation, I grab the plan and read it. This immediately brings me back to the bigger picture, to my plan! To what I aspire to do. Many trivial things immediately fade into the background.

So, start now: Create a vision for yourself too!