My Quick Guide To Winding Down 2022

“I can’t believe it’s December” – on a Teams call for work 

“Is it really December already?” – parents on a Facebook group 

“Where did November go?” – Me… saying a variation of this every time a new month rolls around, without fail. 

And yet here we are, the first day of December. I usually try to publish new blog posts on Wednesdays and Sundays, but this one is a day delayed and it feels like a necessary delay to start this month off with a post. 

I agree, I also cannot believe it’s December. But then again, I also cannot believe it’s the end of 2022 and really cannot believe that we are two years into this decade that held so much promise at the beginning. 

Did you kick off the new decade with big goal-setting and planning? I know I did. The other day I came across the planning sheets and goal lists that I created for the year 2020 and for the new decade. I had no idea that a few months later everything would be on the back burner.  Who did? 

Here we are though. About to start another “New Year”. I absolutely adore this time of year. Thinking about the goal setting, the decluttering, the clear-outing that I want to do gets me so excited and amped up. 

In honor of that excitement, I’m going to go through a few of the end-of-the-year activities that I’m planning. I would love to hear any of your EOY ideas as well! 

First, the email boxes will be purged. I’m not talking my normal day-to-dayish clean out and review of whatever new emails I receive in a loose attempt to get to Inbox Zero. No. I’m talking a major delete-fest where I plan to get rid of it all. In all of the mailboxes (including work!). I have a few different personal inboxes (had to grab those gmail accounts people!) which includes my main personal email, the email accounts for this blog, an email account I use solely for FlyLady emails (of which there are so many), and then my work email. There are probably a few more that I don’t even remember, but that’s the jist. 

Typically, I have most of my emails funneled directly into a Process folder. These emails are filtered automatically out of my inbox and are mostly newsletters, blog post notifications, recipe site emails, etc that I know I don’t need to take action on but are there for me to peruse when I have time. That way my inbox usually only includes important items I need to take action on (like emails from real people or bank notices). 

I have a goal to go through the Process folder twice a week (it’s a great task for Sundays when I’m vegging on the couch watching football) but I do get behind and since these are never super-important emails, that folder gets very full. I want to go through it and completely clear it out for the new year. If I haven’t read that newsletter or blog post by now, it’s time to go. It’s also a great time to unsubscribe from those email lists that aren’t serving you, so I’ll be doing that as well. 

Another item on my EOY to do list is to re-read one of my favorite goal-setting books, “The 12 Week Year” For many years now I have re-read that book in December and used it to set up my goals for the next year. Finally last year, I purchased the book (yay for no longer having to cross my fingers that I can get it from the library on time) and I’m excited to do some highlighting and to add some notes to the margins. 

I usually take the week off between Christmas and New Years and use this time to walk through the planning steps of the 12 Week Year, and that will be the plan this year as well (unless hubby whisks us off to a tropical vaca…oh unless). I wrote a blog post all about how I use the 12 Week Year and if you’re looking for a way to start planning your NY goals, give it a read. 

During that week off, in between sleeping in, snacking, and hot cocoa, I also want to rewrite my Life Plan. A few years ago I read a great book called “Designing Your Life” and in this book, it walked you through creating a “Life Plan”. At some point I will create a review with more details, but basically it takes you through many areas of your life and has you write out in a eulogy style what you want to be remembered for in that area. I last updated mine in the first weeks of 2020 and I haven’t revised it since. I think it’s due for an overhaul. 

Aside from these big tasks, I have a lot of planning to do. I am typically working developing three different apps and I use a system called “Azure DevOps” to plan out my coding tasks. I need to get this system updated with everything I want to accomplish with these apps so I’m ready to go. I also recently started using Trello for my big Home Makeover I’m trying to do, and I need to get that ready to go as well. 

Putting all of these end-of-year tasks into words gets me very excited for the New Year and what is to come in 2023. Hopefully these ideas give you something to think about when planning our your 2023 goals. I would love to hear how you plan to wrap up your year in the comments below!