Are you a planner? Do you like to have a plan or a map in front of you as you enter a new year?

---

Do you love to think about vision and targets and goals, or things you want to accomplish in the upcoming year? I know I sure love it and, in fact, I have been a planner since I was five or six years old. True story! Since elementary age I was known for carrying a planner around everywhere I went, and being a planner is just part of who I am now.

But I’ve learned some things these last forty or so years as I’ve spent some time at the end of each year looking back and reviewing, and looking forward and planning. Some things that have helped me to avoid the traps of perfectionism and being hyper-critical. And other things that have taught me how to really use planning as a tool to increase productivity and my sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.

Is this something you’re interested in? Would you like to see your productivity go up in this coming year? Would you like to feel fulfilled and accomplished by what you did with God over just 12 short months? If so, I want you to grab your journal and a pen, and . . . Let’s Go!

What you will learn in this episode:

• How to perform a Holy Spirit-led review of the year you are stepping out of by following these three basic steps:
  1. Take a “Big Picture” Approach — Ask yourself and God, “How did it go?”
  2. Celebrate Your Wins — Ask yourself and God, “What worked well? What fruit do we see? What wins did we score?”
  3. Take Note of What Didn’t Work (Well or Yet) — Ask yourself and God, “What needs to be completely scrapped and what needs to be redesigned, reworked, resurrected or redirected?”
• How to perform a Holy Spirit-led vision and planning session around the coming year by following these three basic steps:
  1. Take a “Big Picture/What Lives?” Approach — Ask yourself the questions, “What am I most excited about right now? What am I most passionate about right now as I step into a new year? What lives in my soul right now? What is the One Thing God is speaking to me about right now?”
  2. Visioning Session While Asking the Question, “What Do I Want?” — Take 30 to 60 minutes in a prayer-prepared space to ask this question and then draw and journal what you’re seeing and hearing. Be detailed. Add color and don’t hold back!
  3. Use What You Got in Steps 1 & 2 to Craft Targets for the New Year — Consider doing this around various “life boxes” (i.e. personal, marriage, family, ministry, business, relationships, finances, etc.). You can ask yourself the questions, “Where am I now, where do I want to be at the end of the year, and how do I believe I will get there?”
• A couple last steps to keep in mind as you put all this planning together:
  1. Write it down and make it plain (Habbakuk 2); and
  2. Mark your calendar to review your planning at least once a quarter.

Scripture References mentioned in this episode:

Habakkuk 2:1-3 —
I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint. ² Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. ³ This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.

Proverbs 16:9 —
We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.

Isaiah 55:9-11 —
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 

Isaiah 30:20-21 —
You will see your teacher with your own eyes. ²¹ Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

Links to Things I Reference in This Episode:

SURPRISE! I know I said I didn’t do a pdf for this episode (because each person visions so differently), but I did a follow-up Zoom call with 16 listeners and I prepared a workbook for that call. Sooooo, I figured I’d share with everyone here as well. Go grab your workbook and get planning!

Year-End Review & New Year Planning Workbook

The Full Focus Planner by Michael Hyatt — This is the planner I use. It’s a quarterly format and you can sign up for a subscription so you receive your planner automatically right before a new quarter begins. I am not an affiliate and receive zero commission if you purchase the planner. I just love it and wanted to share with you!

Being a Part of a Community Improves Outcomes — Are you ready to join a like-minded community as you step into the New Year with vision and intention? I mentioned two in this episode, and you can click on the images to be taken to the page where you can join.

---

Erica co-leads a local church alongside her husband, Doug, in Tampa, Florida called REVIVE Church of Tampa. You can visit the church’s website for more information about who we are, what we believe and how we show up as the Church in the heart of West Tampa and beyond.

REVIVE Church of Tampa

REVIVE Church of Tampa streams services live on Friday nights at 7pm ET and Sunday mornings at 11am ET. You can find those livestreams on our church Facebook page:

Live Services – Fridays at 7pm ET and Sundays at 11am ET

If you’re interested in joining the online campus of REVIVE Church of Tampa, you are welcome to join our community group on Facebook where we offer weekly discussion around the Friday and Sunday messages as well as discipleship Zoom groups and the opportunity to host others in your home as you stream services. You can find us here:

The ROCC: REVIVE Online Campus Community

About this podcast:

Positioned to Prosper is a weekly podcast that covers the ins and outs of what it means to live a lifestyle of breakthrough and victory in your relationships, health, finances and beyond. Your host, Erica Pyle, is no stranger to jumping without the proverbial parachute while maintaining a firm grip on godly wisdom. A self-described slayer of pragmatism and a “walk by faith” kind of girl, Erica is an unabashed believer in the power of God to radically transform lives. Front-footed in faith as she offers straight-up truth, strategies, and wisdom for living victoriously, and equipped with her love for the word of God, her certification as a holistic health coach, and years of experience in personal finance and taxation, Erica is ready to help you get positioned to prosper.