Creating a Vision for the Year & other Joys of January

January’s quiet, icy stillness invites us to create a vision for the year ahead — at least when all goes according to plan.

What’s working for you so far in 2020? 

My 2020 began with a joyful, beautiful family dinner, and some rest. Then came the critical work of January: Envisioning, and planning. January is for switching gears from precious family holiday time to create a vision for the year. I regroup and sketch out the year ahead — and finished some assignments from clients.

But I’ve learned to keep January’s work light, leaving space and time for dreaming and planning the year — because that’s also important work.

Here’s how I learned this lesson.

Road Warrior

Every spring for eight years, I traveled around America to interview owners of independent garden center stores. My client was a magazine for retailers just like them. The business profiles I wrote became the publication’s cover stories throughout the year.

It was a great gig and I loved it. 

For those few weeks every spring, I was a road warrior, often flying to three cities and three stores around the country in a week. I became fascinated with learning and telling the stories of these family businesses that often began with a grandfather who was a grower selling vegetables from a roadside vegetable stand.

Over about 40 trips and 40 profile stories, I discovered that people who are passionate about plants and the business of sharing their plant passion tend to be really nice people, generous with their time and expertise.

Wisdom from a Visionary

One May afternoon, I interviewed Angelo Petitti and his son AJ, owners of Petitti’s Garden Center in Cleveland. Petitti’s is a successful, nine-store company that grew from a landscape service Angelo started out of his garage in Oakwood Village, Ohio, close to where I grew up. Petitti’s first store opened on the site of that garage in 1971.

In our interview, Angelo talked about how they need January and February to clean out, rework and repaint their stores, especially in the Northeast Ohio climate, so they are shipshape for spring. January is a naturally slow time in that business. Spring is, as you can imagine, insanely busy. So is the Christmas shopping season. 

My takeaway from Angelo: You have to give yourself that time.

He was sharing advice for other store owners, of course, and most likely did not realize he was providing a big A-Hah moment for a freelance writer.

His point resonated with me. You have to give yourself that time. Time to create your vision for the year. To reflect on where you are compared to your vision for your work life. Downtime to regroup, cleanout, and organize the business. That’s essential work for me, too, and an essential part of running my business and life.

Paddling as Fast as I Could

That spring, I was beyond frazzled: Juggling freelance clients, teaching journalism, and attempting to balance that work life with a whole new family life. I was just beginning to learn how to be a stepmom to two teenage boys, and fit into their world, aware they would be all grown up in a few short years.

In the spring, that meant going to as many of my younger stepson’s baseball games as possible — unless I was traveling. It was an important way to show him I loved him. The prior year had brought the great joy of falling in love with my husband and his sons — and the awful pain of watching my dad battle in vain against pancreatic cancer.

That year, my dad died in early January. When it was time to travel that spring, my grief was still so raw.

Frantically, day to day, I dog-paddled to keep my head above water. But I couldn’t paddle fast enough.

I was making logistical mistakes that cost me precious time. On the way to that Petitti interview, I’d rushed through my driving instructions, and initially drove in the wrong direction before realizing my mistake — in my hometown of all places! — and was late. Not by a little bit, either. 

Embarrassed, I apologized and offered to re-schedule. Recalling that afternoon makes me shudder.

The Petittis were gracious and patient. We got it done.

I took Angelo’s wisdom to heart. It was a permission of sorts to step back and re-align my responsibilities with a new life that for the first time included children, a reminder to take better control of my time.

And so I did. Not perfectly. It’s all a work in progress.

Do what works best for you. Here’s how I create a vision for the year ahead.

In the last few months of the year, I think about “my themes” — reflecting on the ones I set for the waning year, and ones that feel right for the coming year. I devote the holidays to family time, then give myself work time in January for visioning, themes, goals and planning.

What’s the point of resolutions that begin Jan. 1? Seems like a setup for failure. I’d rather nap that morning and visit with family in the afternoon.

To start, I open a giant drawing pad with big sheets of paper where I write big-picture notes from previous years.

Over a few hours on the right afternoon, these notes become a vision for the year ahead posted on the wall of my office. Then I break the goals down into steps by quarter and month on whiteboards and onto my calendar.

Handwriting on the Wall

For my whole career, I’ve been a writer — but the type of writing, and nature of my writing goals have changed. Initially, I was a staff journalist on small publications, covering business and the environment, particularly marine issues. For the last 14 years, I’ve made my living as a freelance writer.

For more than a decade my vision has been the same:

Live a beautiful writing life, in balance with a strong, healthy marriage, thriving family and loving home. Tell great stories. Enjoy great stories. Be part of a great story.

Seeing that vision in black and white, I realized that’s exactly where I’ve landed. So I took a few moments to savor that.

Themes — not Resolutions!

Next: my themes. What are the most important challenges to tackle this year? These will be my reminders all year.

On the big sheet of paper, I write my “true north” at the top: “Love & Family Above All Else.”

Love and family come before work goals. And when they align, that’s the best case. When they don’t, it’s time to let some things go.

My 2019 themes were “Be Brave” and “Finish.”

Last February, I stood up on the TEDxPSU stage and told a story about how my late dad had hurt our families — both his first one with my mom and his second one, with my stepmother — and how somehow through gratitude, grace and forgiveness we all came together about a decade ago for a magical Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of February. That and other stories live at ThanksgivinginFebruary.com

(Considering my anxiety when speaking to our church congregation of about 40 people — I can barely breathe at the podium, afraid of accidentally swearing — this 15-minute talk on stage in front of hundreds of people satisfied my “Be Brave” for 2019. Don’t you agree? I’m still afraid of heights. Maybe next year.)

I finished a lot of stuff in 2019. But not this particular Thanksgiving in February work. That I’m still seeing through. 

My themes for 2020:

• Steady On 

• Time 

• Move

More on these later. But here’s a hint: I’ll turn 50 this year. Time, moving and staying grounded and focused are all on my mind a lot lately. 

(Is that typical? If you have any thoughts on turning 50, I’d love to hear them! Leave a comment below or email me: lisa@lisaduchene.com)

Breaking it Down into Steps

I break my themes into goals, and write those on the big paper on the wall.

MOVE, for example, means:

• short walk every day

• long walk 2-3 times a week

• yoga every weekday morning

• a big bike ride this summer. (At least 50-100 miles, which I’ve done before, and I like celebrating milestone birthdays with a challenge goal.) 

Setting Deadlines

Then the bullets become to-do steps on my whiteboard for the quarter, my whiteboard for the month, and my calendar. I’ve created a vision — and know life can change it at any moment.

Maybe there’s an app for all this. If you’ve found one that works for you, that’s awesome. Use that!

Me? I need to see my handwriting on the wall, in the big book, in my calendar.

Now, as January wanes, the review: I’m good on daily walks and a daily yoga practice. Not as many long walks, so I need to work on that.

And … drum roll … 

Last night, the hubs and I made plans with good friends over apple pie and fresh vanilla ice cream to bike the 62-mile Pine Creek Rail Trail in Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon this summer. At least the 62 miles.

It’s on the calendar!

Regular reviews as the year unfolds are the trick to making all this work. Remember: Nothing is perfect. It’s all a work in progress. 

Hello February!

Some reflection today, Feb. 1, is important. The month ahead will be busy, since I’ve committed to writing and sharing love stories at ThanksgivinginFebruary.com — and the annual Thanksgiving in February dinner, of course, is later this month!

The other trick? Knowing when to let stuff go. Trust me, I struggle a lot with this one. 

I’ve blown out enough birthday candles and logged enough miles to know life happens when you’re making other plans.

No longer do I travel every spring and write those independent garden center profiles, though it was a fun gig. Those particular road warrior days are over. I needed the time and space for new work and new directions in my work and life.

A greater love had arrived: Two kids who played football and baseball in high school then college. Sure, they understand I have work responsibilities.

But I’d already missed too many baseball games. And being there was much more important than being a road warrior.