A Strategic Method for Making 2021 Not Suck
By: Shaunta Grimes
Tags: Goals, Productivity, Lifestyle, Organization, Life

I’ve had this idea for a long, long time that I’ve never really put into action.

I think 2021 is the year. Because if there was ever a year that really needs to not suck, this is it.

Here’s the idea: I want to have a personal theme for each month. I’ve tried this before and gotten as far as creating the themes. But in the past, I think, I’ve always gotten too caught up in the planning to really dig into implementing.

Last night I was playing around with the idea in my bujo, as one does, and I hit on the idea of something simpler that I think will work. What if I have a theme for each month and just challenge myself to three things related to it.

Read a book. Form a habit. Meet a goal.

The theme can guide other things. I follow James Altucher’s advice about making a list of ten ideas per day. My theme could help guide those idea lists. And they could help me with prioritizing my time and efforts.

But if I just read a book, worked on developing a habit, and met a goal for each theme? That could be epic, right?

My Twelve Themes for 2021

To be honest, if this sticks, these are likely to be my themes for pretty much every year going forward. Because it was hard to come up with twelve at all. That’s a lot of themes, guys.

Anyway, here they are:

January: My word of the year. (For 2021 it’s prepare.)

February: Love

March: Home

April: Money

May: Body

June: Spirit

July: Adventure

August: Work

September: Learn

October: Self-Care

November: Family

December: Organize

I just sat down and spent an hour coming up with a book, a habit, and a goal for each theme. They’re subject to change, of course. A year is a long time. But I wanted to come up with something now, because some of them I want to work on all year — and just have top of mind during the assigned month.

So, I also came up with a list of things I want to start or do in January.

A Deeper Look at the Themes

WOTY: Prepare

I’ve picked a word-of-the-year every year for the last five years. For 2021, my word is prepare. Not very sexy, but it’s resonating with me and I’m going with it.

My book is The Prepper’s Blueprint by Tess Pennington. It has 52 weekly tasks that appeal to my poor, disorganized little heart. My habit is to spend some time every week thinking about preparation and my goal is to complete all the tasks in the book.

Love

Between Covid and my husband’s parents both having Alzheimer’s and living with us, I haven’t spent two minutes alone with him in most of a year. Sucks. I’m determined to figure out some way to get back to dating Kevin, even with the weird state of the world.

My book is The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. My habit is a weekly date. My goal is . . . none of your business. ❤

Home

We bought a house in 2020 — which was the last of my big, big life goals from the last couple of decades or so. It’s a 100-year-old house that we’ve already been living in the last two years. There’s plenty that needs to be done. But I realized that task one needs to be something a little different: getting the stuff in the house under control.

My book is Minimalism Room-by-Room by Elizabeth Enright Phillips. My habit is to institute a one in/one out policy for new purchases. And my goal is to declutter my entire house, from attic to basement.

Money

For the first time since I was about fourteen years old, my money situation is stable at the moment. That feels really good. Also, for the first time, my money-related goal for the year doesn’t include some kind of increase in income. That feels really — weird.

My book is I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi. My habit is to track my spending. My goal is to have one full no-spend month in 2021.

Body

Body is code word for health/wellness/fitness. I just wanted a single word that encompassed it all for me.

My book is How Not to Diet by Dr. Michael Greger. My habit is to use my brand-spanking new Shapa scale — which doesn’t weigh weight. Or at least, it doesn’t share my weight with me. I’m intrigued by it. My goal is to get my insomnia under control.

Spirit

I have a fairly traumatic, tumultuous relationship with spirituality. For me, the spirit theme could as easily have been called ‘mind.’

My book is The Holy Wild by Danielle Dulsky. My habit is to figure out a way to incorporate a weekly spirituality practice into my life — which will include figuring out what that looks like. And my goal is to create a grimoire — which is just a word I like and my way of thinking about a notebook dedicated to my spiritual practice.

Adventure

My life has been so work-focused the last few years. I want to incorporate a little more — something that’s not work. I thought about calling this theme ‘fun,’ but adventure called to me, so here we are.

My book is Sisters on the Fly by Irene Rawlings. My habit is to take one risk every month — AKA do something scary. My goal is to buy a little travel trailer.

Work

I’m so work focused that it hardly seems like I need to have a whole month themed to it. But I went for it anyway.

My book is Dotcom Secrets by Russell Brunson. I’m slightly skeptical about how useful a book called Dotcom Secrets that was written in 2015 will be, but I’ve heard a lot about it, so I’m going to read it anyway. My habit is to implement one new thing per month to increase my business revenue. And my goal is to increase my revenue to the point where I can comfortably pay my employees without giving myself an anxiety attack every month. So, about a 25 percent increase.

Learn

I challenge myself to learn something new every year. It’s one of my favorite things. My 2021 something-to-learn is yoga.

My book is Every Body Yoga by Jessamyn Stanley. My habit is to spend ten minutes a day doing yoga and my goal is to establish a daily practice.

Self-Care

I really thought hard about what my self-care theme would look like for 2021. In the end, I decided that what I really need is to do something every now and then that isn’t work. I’ve missed my Reno garden since moving to PA, so I picked that.

My book is The Suburban Micro-Farm by Amy Stross. My habit is to spend some time every month doing Sharon Astyk’s Independence Days exercise. And my goal is to have a three-season garden. This is one of those themes that I’m not going to be able to actually wait for the assigned month — since that’s October.

Family

This ties into my self-care theme, sort of. I really need to be intentional about not working all the freaking time. I’m seriously on work from the moment my eyes open until I fall asleep at night.

I actually have two books for this theme. Dinner: A Love Story and Dinner: The Playbook by Jenny Rosenstratch. My habit is to have a monthly Zoom call with my dad and my brothers and sisters. And my goal is to have a family dinner that’s not takeout 90 percent of the time.

Organize

This one, for 2021, ended up being an extension of last year’s learning topic, which was personal style.

I have two books for this theme as well. The Curated Closet by Anushka Rees and it’s accompanying workbook. My habit is to log my outfits, which I hope will help me tame my tiny, overpacked closet. And my goal is to have a totally organized closet.

I had some other ideas for themes — maybe they’ll be useful to you if mine don’t work for your life. I thought about: mind, writing, creativity, food, aging. Maybe one or all of those will show up in future years for me.

Things I’ll Start in January

So, it’s not the point of the themes to only think about these things for one month out of the year. Some of these habits and goals will need to be at least thought about starting in January.

Here’s my list:

Start the weekly Prepper Blueprint challenges. (Convenient, since prepare is the January theme.)

Have a monthly date with Kevin — that’s Covid friendly and won’t, you know, kill us.

Declutter for 15 minutes a day.

Start tracking my spending.

Start using my Shapa scale.

Do daily stretches.

Start those monthly family Zoom calls.

Start logging my outfits.

Keep using the Every Plate meal delivery service, which has seriously cut down on our takeout habit.

And start a dinner notebook, which I’m super excited about.

Is that a lot? Yeah, I guess so. Will it all stick? Who knows. But I feel better, after a seriously insane year, having a solid plan for 2021.

Recap: Setting Up Your Own Themes for 2021

Step One

Come up with twelve one-word themes and assign one to each month of the year. I started with my word of the year in January, then added in other obvious months. Money in April, because taxes. Learning in September, because school. Self-Care in October, because it’s my birthday month. Etc. Then fit in the rest.

Step Two

Decide on a book, a habit, and a goal for each theme.

Step Three

Figure out what you need to start now to make those habits and goals a thing. It maybe the whole habit/goal— like logging my outfits for my organizing theme. Or it might be a path into the habit/goal like starting with stretching in January for my body theme.

Step Four

Schedule your theme work in your planner or calendar. Order your first couple of books. Make sure you have what you need for your first habits and goals of the year.

Step Five

You know. Do the things.