Now that we start to count down the last few hours of 2013 many of us look back at the past year and wonder what the new will bring. Although every day is a new beginning, the first day of every new year somehow carries a lot of psychological momentum with it. So often the last year ends with the certainty that next will be a better and greater year. Greater hopefully not only by it’s number. But honestly, there is one person who can make sure your 2014 will be good. This one person is you.

You can decide from the first day one whether you’ll be acting or reacting in 2014. It is always a much better position to be in when you are ahead of your own game versus trailing  behind. And this is why I decided to make a detailed plan for 2014. I usually know what I want to achieve within the next month personally, but so far I’ve always made only very rough plans for longer timeframes like one year. But with more things going on than in previous years, I know I have to do some planning to make 2014 my best year ever.

The research projects I am working on are mostly planned out in much detail from the very beginning. They have specific deliverables and milestones and hence a clear path of action. After all this is how we get funding.

So why not do this for all aspects of our lives? Chris Guillebeau provides a great template for such a detailed plan on his site The Art of Non-Conformity (the template is here). He is not only a very gifted human being who continues to achieving great goals, he has also shares his plans with the internet community for a couple of years now. What I like most is that he wants you to track your progress with the right metrics. I couldn’t agree more. Check out his latest plans for 2014: 2013 Annual Review: Looking Forward. I will.