I spent many hours working through my annual reflections this year and stumbled on an insight that, in retrospect, should have been obvious – the “look forward” section needs to be all about the reminders.
As I worked through my priorities for 2024 and reviewed principles on health, close relationships, money, et al, I realized that the system that helps me make them happen is the system of reminders.
In my case, there are 4 systems –
(1) Morning reading (takes about 3 minutes to read the pinned note)
(2) End of day check in (takes about 2 minutes to write out reflections from the day)
(3) The weekly reflection template (takes 5 mins on a weekend)
(4) The weekend priority list template (used to organize what I need to get done)
I could write whatever I want in my goals for 2024. However, they will get done when they consistently make their way into these templates.
As long as they’re in there, I’ll naturally get a daily/weekly reminder of what matters. That reminder increases the probability I’ll get what I want to get done.
The principle here is recommitment. Commitment in an annual reflection process is the starting point. Success, however, is going to come from recommitment – over and over again.
That’s why it is all about the reminders.
