Navigating the Noise: A Guide to Goal Setting and Personal Renewal
Happy new year! I bet you are feeling refreshed from time off and ready to conquer another year. Right? Honestly, I’m still feeling tired after a long 2025. However, this time of year offers space for my favorite activities: reflection and planning.
Reflection is one way that I fight against the weight of the world sapping my energy and joy. I love looking back and remembering what happened in the last year. Planning is my superpower, which is funny because I have ADHD. I’ve realized that planning (which includes strong calendaring & project management) reduces my anxiety and closes the many open tabs in my mind.
For many of us, the struggle to keep up with details and stay focused is a daily reality. Yet, the remedy is simpler than you think: a robust planning practice. Planning isn’t just about spreadsheets; it is a way to tap into your executive functioning—the highest level of brain thinking—to sequence time and activities in a way that brings deep clarity and decreases anxiety.
The following four-step framework, supported by daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual routines, offers a sustainable path to personal growth, connection, and service.
Step One: Growth through Reflection
Growth is impossible without looking backward. Reflection is a powerful practice that opens the mind to hidden thoughts and biases.
Audit Your Roles: Identify the 4–6 roles you fill (e.g., teammate, sibling, volunteer, citizen). Ask yourself where you found joy and what observations you have about each role.
Assess Your Risks: List the risks you took in the last 12 months. Determine if they were “worth it,” “not a big deal,” or a “total failure”. Remember: risks are necessary for growth.
Seek Feedback: Don’t reflect in a vacuum. Group reflection brings a new level of self-awareness. Consider the feedback you have received over the past year.
Step Two: Visioning the Future
If you can’t see where you want to go, you can’t get there. Visioning is simply the development of a goal.
Dream Vividly: Take a few minutes to meditate on where you want to be in 12 months. Who is there? How do you feel?
Write a Letter to Your Future Self: Write a letter to yourself dated one year from now, after the dream has been accomplished. This cements the feelings of success in your body.
Use the SMART Approach: Ensure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Step Three: Building the Bridge
Once you have the goal, you must build the “bridge of action” to reach it.
Sequence Your Activities: Ask yourself: What steps are needed? How much time will they take?.
Optimize Your Environment: Identify when and where you do your best work.
Externalize the Details: For those with ADHD, capturing details in a spreadsheet or calendar is vital for staying focused on the most important tasks.
Step Four: Establishing Support (The SPINE Model)
Extraordinary work requires extraordinary self-care. Use the SPINE model to assess your regular needs for support:
Spiritual: Connection to purpose.
Physical: Care for the body.
Intellectual: Seeking new surprises and knowledge.
iNtuition: Listening to your inner guide.
Emotional: Identifying and processing emotions.
Rhythms of Renewal: From Daily to Annual
To prevent falling “on your face from exhaustion,” you must build these practices into your calendar at various frequencies.
Daily: Focusing on Basic Needs
You can complete these in just 15 minutes a day to stay grounded.
Breathe: Take 3 deep breaths before every meeting (10 seconds).
Hydrate: Drink a glass of water with every meal.
Nourish: Schedule 10 minutes for a midday lunch break.
Move: Walk outside or stretch for 1–2 minutes twice a day.
Gratitude: Spend 30–60 seconds adding 1–3 things to a gratitude list.
Weekly: Focusing on Safety and Security
Plan the Week: Use planning to bring certainty into your life when the world feels overwhelming.
The Renewal List: Build a list of 15–50 things you truly enjoy (senses, people, activities) so you don’t have to “think” about how to renew yourself in the moment.
Weekly SPINE Check-in: Reflect on how you connected with your purpose, cared for your body, and what surprised you.
Monthly: Focusing on Love and Belonging
Relationships are where we find our humanity. Dedicate 30 minutes each month to reflecting on your “Relationship Buckets”:
Bucket #1 (1-5 people): Those with whom you are your most authentic self.
Bucket #2 (5-20 people): Your regular community—friends, family, and neighbors.
Bucket #3 (20-100 people): Acquaintances and adjacent friends you interact with regularly.
Bucket #4 (100+ people): Your broader community or alumni networks.
Quarterly: Focusing on Inner Strength
Every three months, book one hour to create intentions—not just goals, but grounding principles.
Ask: Where do I want to show myself more compassion? What changes am I willing to make now?
Annual: Focusing on Beliefs and Growth
September or January are perfect times for a deep dive (2–4 hours) into your personal growth.
Review your calendar from the last 12 months to see where you found joy.
Define the impact you want to have on others and the values that matter most.
As Dr. Vivek Murthy noted, the keys to fulfillment are relationships, service, and purpose. By building these structured practices into your life, you are not just managing a to-do list; you are creating a sustainable ecosystem for meaning. You were not born to center your entire existence on labor—you were born to heal, to create, and to connect. I’ll share more in January as I move this process for myself.
How do you plan for the new year? I’d love to hear from you! Subscribe to my Substack for information on translating goals into action.