THE YEAR I STOPPED WINGING IT
6 MIN READ
CREATE A LIFE STRATEGY
UNDERSTANDING THE ASSIGNMENT
By the end of 2023, life looked fine on paper. I was showing up, doing all the things I was supposed to be doing, staying productive and handling my business like the steady Capricorn that I am. From the outside, everything looked rosy.
But still, something felt off. Mind you nothing terrible had happened. It’s not like I was having some sort of major life crisis. I just had this nagging feeling that I was moving through life without making any real decisions about where I wanted to go. Something I suspect many of you can relate to.
Around that time, I came across a Harvard Business Review article called “Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want.” It piqued my interest because as a corporate girly strategy wasn't exactly a foreign concept to me. I've spent years sitting in meetings where teams discuss priorities, trade-offs, long-term goals and where resources should go. Yet somehow, I’d never stopped to ask those same questions or apply them to life. So, I decided to try the exercise.
I had no real expectations, like a big promise to transform my life. It would simply be a little experiment. Afterall, I had nothing to lose right? I just wanted to see what would happen if I stopped winging it.
THE REALITY CHECK
I’ll be honest, the process itself was much more intense than I expected. And I kept at it with the determination of a toddler trying to fit the last block into place. I can tell you, it’s much more than one of those quick journaling exercises you finish in an hour. It forced me to look honestly at where my time was going and compare that to what I thought was important to me.
And surprise, surprise, the two didn't always match. Seeing that gap on paper made me cringe. Like for example I noted that spending more time in nature was important to me, yet I spent a lot of hours watching Netflix. At the same time, it was strangely calming. At least now I knew.
The article included worksheets, but I quickly realized I needed something that fit the way my brain works. I ended up building myself a PowerPoint deck. I know, I know, I did say I was a corporate girly.
I just needed a place where I could move things around, revisit ideas and update them over time. It could easily have been penning it down in a notebook. At the beginning of 2024, I filled it out and then got on with my life. When the year ended, I opened it again.
PROOF OF CONCEPT
What I realized most was that some goals no longer mattered to me and some priorities had moved higher. The things I thought would be easy turned out to be harder than I expected. And some of the things I worried about never happened at all.
When 2025 rolled around, I updated the deck and started again. By then, I stopped looking at it as a plan and started looking at it as a reference point.
I was no longer trying to optimize every area of my life. Or trying to become a better version of myself every five minutes. Living with more intention became my true focus.
A QUIET UPGRADE
Over time, I noticed the small things. I became more careful about where my energy went. I said yes less often. I paid more attention to what actually made me feel good and what I had gotten used to doing e.g., Netflix.
By the time I sat down to update my 2026 life strategy, I didn’t need the article anymore. As the “little experiment” went on, the process had become second nature. My life was running like a healthy corporation. A personal one.
I realized that the biggest reward was perspective. Whenever life started feeling overwhelming, I had something to come back to. A way to pause and ask the right questions like: Is this moving me toward the life I'm trying to build? Or am I just staying busy?
CREATE YOUR OWN LIFE STRATEGY
If this post resonated with you, I've made the workbook I used available as a free download below.
Inside, you'll find the same framework that helped me step back, look at my life as a whole, and think more intentionally about where I wanted to invest my time and energy. You don't have to follow it exactly. Adapt it, change it, and make it your own. The value isn't in my answers. It's in discovering yours.
Download the Life Strategy Workbook (PDF)
A lightweight version that's perfect for reading and reflecting.
Download the Editable Life Strategy Workbook (PowerPoint)
An editable version if you want to customize the framework and build your own life strategy.
What's one decision you're glad you made this year? Join the conversation, tell us about it in the comments!
You might also like this related article: WHAT HARVARD TAUGHT ME ABOUT LEADERSHIP
