We’ve got 8 weeks left in 2023. Let’s finish strong and steady.
You may not be feeling so strong right now, and that’s okay. You don’t have to be ready to tackle giant goals in order to finish the year strong and steady.
Think about two possibilities:
If you set goals earlier in the year:
Look back on your goals for 2023. Are there goals you need to drop now? Do you have goals that slipped and you’d like to get back on track with? Is there anything you’d like push to finish before the end of the year?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed right now and not ready to tackle anything big:
Focus on bolstering yourself by taking care of the basics – good sleep, healthy food, and exercise.
Deep Stack concept from Cal Newport
One idea from Cal Newport is to use his deep stack framework to reinvent your life. He has a podcast about this here (He covers this in the first 30 or so minutes.)
I think we can use the deep stack idea to help us finish 2023 feeling strong and steady.
The deep stack contains four levels:
- Top level – Vision
- Level 3 – Control
- Level 2 – Values
- Level 1 – Discipline
Newport maintains that we need to start with developing discipline in order to keep the habits that will move us forward in life. I agree with that.
Next comes a focus on values. We talked about discovering your core values last week.
The next level up is developing a system of control, so that you know what you need to do and when you need to do it, without things falling through the cracks.
Newport is a big proponent of multi-level planning, meaning having annual goals, weekly planning and daily planning. He recommends a system that builds in time to review long-term goals so that the weekly and daily plans support reaching the goals.
Two systems I use for multi-level planning are MakseLife, which I use for my personal life and HB90, which I use for my work.
Finally, Cal Newport lists vision as the top level. Once you’ve developed discipline, know your core values, have a system to control tasks and plans, you can focus on what you’d like life to be like in 5-10 years.
A lot of goal-setting info starts with the long-term vision. That can be useful, but I do think there are times in life where we need to start smaller. I know for myself that I’ve had seasons when I can’t think long-term, but starting with the discipline piece has helped me break out of the funk and move forward in life.
Think about Fly Lady recommending cleaning the kitchen sink as a base step or the advice to make your bed everyday.
Action:
Think through each level of the deep stack. Start at the lowest level where you feel depleted (for many of us, that will be level one).
Decide a focus for the remainder of this year that matches the lowest deep stack level that you need to work on.
There’s no need to work through every level of the deep stack before the end of the year.
Here are a few ideas for each stack:
Level 1 – Consider implementing a small habit to carry through the end of the year. Focus on just one, so that you don’t get overwhelmed. Track that habit and remember that if you miss a day, you can get back on track the next day.
Level 2 – Values – Work through your core values and possibly your desired feelings.
Level 3 – Control – Review and research your planning system in order to find something that will work well for you in 2024.
Level 4 – Draft a five year plan for yourself. Dream about what you’d like life to be like in five years and consider some immediate steps you can take in that direction.