Our Annual Planning Meeting
Life is complicated. You can blink in January and all of a sudden it’s May and summer is here. One more blink and you’re carving pumpkins for Halloween and getting ready for back to back holidays. It’s so important to carve out time to take stock of your life and make sure you have an idea of where you want the year to go. Or before you know it, another year has gone by taking you along with it like a leaf in a stream.
The best way Kenneth and I have found to ensure we are on the same page for what we are looking for in a new year, is to set aside time in early January to have an annual planning meeting. We get childcare for the kids (thanks Mimi and FooPa) and take ourselves to a place where we can talk uninterrupted. Preferably someplace with good coffee!
Each meeting we cover the same broad topics: personal, family, and business. I come prepared with a series of questions for us to answer under each broad topic. We go through together and each answer the questions one at a time. By the end of the meeting we have a pretty detailed picture of what our goals are for ourselves, our family, and our business. We also know what we need from each other to make our lives better in the new year.
If you’re interested in starting a meeting of your own, it’s never to late! Below are the questions we answered this year:
Intro:
What went well last year?
What could have gone better?
Personal:
What do you need more of?
How can I support you better?
What do you need to feel whole in 2025?
Family:
Favorite family moments of 2024
What do we need more of this year?
Schedule check in for the year
How do we plan individual time with each kid?
What should family time look like this year?
Anticipated expenses/budget changes
Business:
What went well in 2024?
What didn’t go well in 2024?
What was your favorite part of the business?
What was your least favorite part of the business?
Anticipated expenses
Anticipated income
Where did we not have the resources we needed?
What does a perfect year in the business look like (if failure weren’t an option)?
What did we want to do in 2024 that we couldn’t get to?
Wrap Up:
How do you feel about 2025?
What are you looking forward to this year?
What does success look like for you in 2025?