How long do you work on your New Years Resolutions? Is it until roughly mid-February? You’re not alone!
Everyone knows resolutions aren’t really that serious–it’s fun to pretend we’ll magically turn into fit, happy, healthy, social, lovely people just by wishing for it, but in reality, has it ever worked? Do you do it every year, despite hitting a wall just a few weeks in and forgetting it forever? Or worse, beating yourself up all year for not following through.
Well, I have the solution for you: Yearly Themes.
The Problem with Resolutions
Everyone loves a New Year resolution. New Year’s is actually my favorite holiday. I love to sit with myself and reflect on the year, skim some journals, write a letter to myself for the next year (and read the one from last year), and set goals that matter to me.
New Year resolutions were something I really enjoyed, and I put a lot of consideration into them, but I always found them fizzling out, or I’d nail them and having nothing to do after February.
Personally, I found my resolutions lacked long-term drive–it was a short-term focus. I felt pressured and stressed about them because they were so specific. When they were longer-term goals, there was no inherent flexibility. We can change a LOT through a year, especially in the first half of our lives–the original goal might not even be something you care about by August.
Then my bestie introduced me to the concept of a yearly theme.
What is a yearly theme?
Yearly themes are broad, overarching concepts or goals that guide your focus and priorities throughout a year. The point is to help you stay motivated and aligned with a long-term vision instead of setting specific milestones. It’s the Big Picture.
You choose a theme that deeply resonates with your personal/professional goals. It should be broad enough to allow for various applications, but specific enough to mean something to you and provide guidance.
Themes are usually better as one word. Wellness, Connection, Adventure, Productivity, Sustainability. You should clearly define what the word means to you.
While there’s not really an origin for the idea of structuring themes like this, online creator CGP Grey is a big supporter of the concept. He even designed a journal specifically for following a theme.
Here’s his explanation:
Using a yearly theme can help you maintain a sense of purpose and direction throughout the year, making it easier to set and achieve your goals.
Why are yearly themes better?
Themes are superior to resolutions in several ways.
1. Flexibility
The nature of a theme is that you can hold it up beside a decision or life change and evaluate your options based on how they align with your greater idea of the year. With a resolution, you have goals like “get ripped,” “read more books,” and while those might be good goals, they’re static.
2. Broad but specific
A theme can cover nearly every situation you encounter, but it’s also leading you toward a very specific objective. Resolutions are too specific to one particular situation, rather than guiding you in every category of life.
3. Easier to integrate
A theme isn’t throwing fast, drastic change in your face. It’s more of a philosophy than an action point, meaning it can affect your life daily, in smaller ways, rather than trying to push a bunch of new habits into your day.
4. Reduced pressure
With a theme, you don’t necessarily have to take action immediately. It’s just a guiding light to bring you where you want to go.
5. Continuous improvement
Choosing themes makes you really look at yourself and your life and evaluate how you want to change. Every year brings you closer to the person you actually want to be.
How To Choose Your Year’s Theme
Yearly themes should be three things: Broad, directional, and resonant.
Broad: A yearly theme should encapsulate a wide range of things. For example, a year of Recharge could start with the intention of finding rest and quiet, and by mid-year, it could change into establishing routines and processes to remove decision-making.
Both of those things grow your energy. So your theme’s word should represent the grander idea of how you want to change.
Directional: Instead of narrowing specifics of beats you want to hit throughout the year, instead, you select a general direction. The theme is your North Star. A yearly theme helps you keep moving in the way you want to move, without sticking to a rigid plan that might not line up with your current desires. We change, so a theme lets our goals change with us.
Resonant: The word you choose to represent your theme should make your ears perk up. You’ll FEEL when you’ve hit the right word. If you have the direction you’d like to go in, make a list of words that could work for it until you hit one that feels right.
1. Biggo Self-Convo
If you’re a regular reader, I’m sure you’re sick of me telling you to talk to yourself, but have you tried it? I’ll stop saying it when you all start doing it.
Anyway, the first step of choosing your theme is to dig deep into yourself, evaluate your life, assess your personal moral guideposts and philosophies. It’s good to know who you are, what you’re about, and what you believe in. It also makes choosing a yearly theme a lot easier!
If you’re a lost lamb, fear not. I have a list of prompts you can journal about that should give you some clarity.
Journal Prompts:
- Reflection
- What were the most fulfilling experiences from this year?
- What am I proudest of having accomplished?
- What challenges did I face? How did I handle it, and what did I learn?
- How did I grow/change this year?
- How did my social group change?
- How did my life circumstances change?
- Core values
- What are my values?
- How do I want those values to align with my year?
- Potential growth areas
- What am I unhappy with in my life?
- What do I dislike about myself?
- What do people say if they complain about me?
- What aspects of life would I like to focus or improve on?
- What are my weaknesses?
- Do I have any reoccurring problems in life? Am I causing them?
- Intentions
- What kind of person do I want to be by the end of this year?
- What kind of person do I want to be by the end of my life?
- How do I want to feel?
- What do I want to experience?
- How do I want people to see me?
- How do I want to change my community?
- What impact would I like to have on the world?
- Inspiration
- Are there quotes that inspire me?
- What motivates me?
- What excites me?
- Whose opinions do I care about?
- Evaluate priorities
- What are my current priorities?
- What do I spend most of my time doing?
- Are the answers to the above two questions the same? Why not?
- Do I want my priorities to change?
- Do I feel shame about my priorities?
- What are the key areas I want to change?
- Anticipate challenges
- What could stop me from accomplishing my goals?
- What character traits do I have that will clash with my ultimate vision of myself?
- What obstacles might I face this year?
- Which obstacles might prevent me from reaching this particular goal?
2. Define your theme
With all that self-reflection, you should have a pretty solid idea of the direction you’d like to go. Refine that until you have a specific, articulated goal in mind.
After you’ve got a paragraph or sentence you feel expresses it as precisely and clearly as you can, condense it into a word. Having a theme of a single word makes it easy to remember, to incorporate into your day, and to represent a larger idea.
It should be broad enough to cover multiple areas of application, but precise enough to give you clear direction. For example–
Goal: I want to build a sustainable life for myself, like a homestead in my current neighborhood, that can provide things like food, water, or power in a cheap, convenient way so I don’t have to rely on outside sources. I want this because the current state of the country, grocery prices, and a growing sense of unease make me worried for my and my family’s future. I’d like to provide more for us myself.
Theme: Sustainability.
3. Implement in the year ahead
There are two main ways to implement a yearly theme: Decision-making and milestones.
The main function of your theme will be to guide you as decisions and situations arise naturally–that way you stay focused without being stifled. If your goal is sustainability and your spouse says they’d like to landscape the front yard, you’d discuss edible plants, cooking and medicinal herbs, and maybe some fruit trees.
When the roof needs to be replaced, you might invest in a material you could repair or create yourself. Maybe you’d check in with the city to learn about installing solar panels while you’re up there.
To get a little more precise with implementation right now, we can set up some milestones for the year. These are more specific goals that align with your theme.
Examples of possible milestone goals for a theme of Sustainability:
- Raise 5 egg-laying chickens
- Create a community garden
- Organize monthly swap meets
- Grow an herb garden
- Take a foraging class
- Volunteer for Meals-On-Wheels
You can choose 1-10 milestones for your year and set general timelines for completion. For most people, it will be more helpful to frame these milestone goals as guidelines not deadlines. If you don’t do all of them in a year, that’s totally okay. You probably did some, or your theme guided you in a direction you weren’t expecting and you ended up moving to a farm so none of this got done but other, even cooler things did. Remember, these aren’t new year’s resolutions.
Why be strapped to one of these popular, single-minded flop goals when you could be living on a farm? Or something.
Big Picture Yearly Theme Ideas
Here’s a lil list of yearly theme ideas. One of these may hit for you, or could get you thinking on the right track.
- Productivity
- Sustainability
- Happiness
- Recharge
- Creativity
- Wellness
- Connection
- Adventure
- Mindfulness
- Balance
- Simplicity
- Empowerment
- Resilience
- Joy
- Community
- Generosity
- Innovation
- Discipline
- Exploration
- Presence
- Transformation
- Discovery
- Renewal
- Abundance
- Curiosity
- Mastery
- Healing
- Kindness
- Collaboration
- Gratitude
- Purpose
- Learning
- Courage
- Process
These words could mean practically anything. When you see your future yearly theme, you’ll probably know immediately what it means for you.
Does it have to be a year?
No! You can set themes for quarters, months, or even weeks. They could be totally unrelated or fall under the same umbrella.
You could take a yearly theme and break it into quarterly themes within that to provide a little more structure, like:
Yearly Theme: Sustainability
Quarter 1: Community – connect with local efforts, farmer’s markets, community outreaches
Quarter 2: Learning – read up on raising protein, take foraging classes, make a planting calendar for your climate
Quarter 3: Cultivation – get to work implementing that knowledge
Quarter 4: Infrastructure – optimize your current buildings and facilities for sustainability
Sometimes setting quarterly or monthly themes instead of an annual one is helpful because you have a smaller span of time to focus on. That can make you more efficient and motivated.
Gyms make most of their revenue in January, for obvious reasons. This graph from exercise.com shows that things go back to normal around March, because three months is how long most people’s attention span is for new goals.
Using quarterly themes instead of annual can keep it fresh and exciting. You might start with quarterly themes, especially if you know that you have a short attention span and don’t excel at self-motivation.
Tips for Quarterly Themes
If quarterly themes have more appeal, here’s some advice to get you started.
1. Don’t plan ahead
If you’re setting quarterly themes, consider only setting one instead of trying to plan all four ahead of time. At the end of the quarter, revisit where you’re at and come up with the second quarter’s theme based on what’s exciting and important to you right now.
For the same reason resolutions don’t work for most people, planning out your entire year ahead of time might not work for you. Choosing your themes as it becomes relevant can allow for more flexibility and growth.
2. Consider the season
Considering the season in which your quarter falls might have some pull on which theme you choose.
Winter could be a good time for mental, emotional, or spiritual pursuits, since you’re probably spending a lot more time indoors with fewer responsibilities (less yard work, likely fewer social commitments, etc).
Winter themes could include:
- Learning
- Reading
- Process
- Spirituality
- French
- Mindfulness
The warmer months make sense for themes that involve things like the outdoors or socializing.
Personally, Autumn is a great season for me to focus on Getting Things In Order, so if I wanted a theme centered on decluttering, wrapping up house projects, or swapping up routines, I’d probably do it then.
3. Be flexible with dates
Sometimes using actual quarters won’t make sense for you. If you want to break up your year based on some other dictation of time–school semesters, for example–do it! The whole point of themes is flexibility.
4. Keep the theme
If you’re rocking with your last quarterly theme, if you don’t feel like you’ve completed as much as you wanted to, or if you’re just having a great time, there’s no pressure to change it! You might keep one theme for two quarters, or even the whole year. Just reevaluate regularly.
Tips for Following Your Theme
The general idea of the theme system is that you know the Direction you want to go in, so when you arrive at a decision, you can choose the option that brings you further in that direction. Here are a few tips that can help you retain focus and stay on track.
1. Keep it in mind
You want your theme at the forefront of your mind so you don’t forget to make moves that align with it. This could mean reading over your entire goal statement every night, pinning a note in your office, tattooing on your knee, whatever you need to do.
2. Make it deeply personal
For the most effective theme, it needs to speak directly to your soul. What do you need? What do you want? What are you actually motivated to change? If you hate the idea of pursuing the goal, you’re forgetting about it by January 19th.
3. Create a vision board
A vision board will help you remember why you chose your theme. Collect images that represent your ideal life or situation to inspire you through the year. Here’s an example for our little urban farmer:
4. Set a few goalposts
Like we mentioned above, it’s good to have a few smaller, more specific goals you want to aim for this year that align with your theme. This ensures you make real progress toward your vision and always have something tangible to work on, rather than waiting for life to present a choice.
5. Regular check-ins
Schedule check-ins, like at the end of every month, to evaluate how you’re doing. Here are some questions you might ask if you need ideas:
- What decisions and actions did I take this month that move me closer to my vision?
- What goalposts did I accomplish or progress?
- What choices and actions did I make this month that did not align with my goals? Why did I do those things? Would I make a different decision now? What tools and strategies can I employ to prevent this type of issue in the future?
I did daily check-ins for my theme this year, where I just note at the bottom of my journal entry a quick list of ways that I aligned with my theme and ways in which I did not. That kept it on my mind every day, and I was able to spot problems and fix them quickly.
6. Integrate new habits into your daily routine
Your theme should change your day-to-day existence. There are likely daily actions that will push you to your goal, so identify those actions and work them into your schedule. This can be adding it to your morning routine, habit stacking, wrapping it up with your EOD routine. Put it somewhere you have space, time, and attention for it. Make it achievable for yourself.
7. Share your theme
It really depends on your personality, but most people benefit from letting their social circle know about their theme. It can build some accountability, and they might want to join! Most things are easier with friends.
8. Celebrate small wins
A year is a long time. To maintain momentum, be sure to celebrate your small wins along the way. You might note them in a journal, write it on a slip of paper to fill a jar you can read at the end of the year, or buy yourself a lil treat.
9. Roll with stumbles
Don’t let mess-ups stop you. Take the hit and get back up. Even if you fail at doing anything toward your goal for months, you can always pick it back up and start again. It can be discouraging to feel like you’re making no progress, which is why it’s important to note your accomplishments and celebrate those small wins!
10. Use it in decision-making
We’ve covered this a few times, but one of the biggest functions of establishing a theme is that you factor it in when you’re making changes or decisions. This makes life changes much smoother–you’re not necessarily re-hauling your whole life at once. You’re just arranging new parts of your life to suit the goal. Non-invasive augmentation.
11. Stay inspired
Keep your vision board somewhere you can see it, celebrate little wins, get your immediate community involved, or whatever you need to do to keep your theme as your compass for the year. If you wander off the path, you can find your way back!
Yearly Theme Template
Use this free template for theme planning and goal setting:
Themes are both more precise and more flexible than resolutions. They can grow and evolve with you, making it much easier and more relevant to stick with it, while also keeping you moving in the direction you want to go.
So try out a themed year or quarter, and let us know how it goes!
Next up, learn how to set goals for your milestone achievements.
