It's the start of the New Year! We often turn to planning what we'd like to accomplish for lofty goals, but what about things like self care and down time? What about picking a theme for the year instead of resolutions? Planning can take on many flavors! And consider making changes a little at a time. Too much at once can be overwhelming!
— Shyredfox
Welcome to the first mini challenge of 2026 .
Keeping track of everything we have going on can be challenging, and no single way works for all brains. So, this month we are working towards finding something that works best for you. And if you have something that works, we'll fling a few ideas your way to help you increase organization in your planner life.
The Challenge will run January 1-31, 2026.
To Participate
Pick at least 1 area to plan. It can be for the year, month, week, or day. Areas you might consider include author/creator-wise, mental, physical, digital, or whatever suits your life right now and for the future. This challenge is meant to be very chill. It's not meant to pressure you, only encourage! Try to post at least once a week in the #mini-challenges channel on the GoT Discord.
Remember that giving yourself grace is totally necessary for good planning. Life often does not go along with our plans.
— Shy
What do I get for participating?
An awesome badge!
by Shyredfox
(After the challenge, Shy or Prez will post the badge and badge code in the #mini-challenges channel.)
Ideas
Need a place to start? No pressure. Just sharing possibilities!
Goal Setting vs Themes
Goals
What goals do you have for the upcoming year?
Write them down somewhere where you will see them frequently. Its hard to plan towards something when you have no idea where your going. Maybe next to your calendar or if you use a digital planning system have a list of them near your task planning area.
Try using SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound
Don't overload yourself or bit off more than you can choose. Pick a number to have in process and a place to store goal ideas beyond those you have in progress.
Remember it's ok to change or remove goals. Your priorities, life situation, and interests may change over the year. Don't make yourself push to do something you hate or does not fit your life anymore.
Make one of your goals something that you know for a fact you will do. In years past Prez has done, read a book, be more gay, and pet a cat. Something easy so no matter what, next December you’ve done one goal.
Make a list of the goals and significant things you've accomplished over the year so you can look back on it with pride and use that info to plan next year.
Consider a list of things that you don't do, to make time for the things you consider most important. There's only so much time in the day to do things. So reminding yourself of what you chose can give you a reminder of that and help you make the best choices in the long run. Did you pass up an opportunity to co-author something or edit for someone so you could finish your own story? Write it down. Did you choose to stay home instead of go to a party because your nerves were frazzled and you needed time to reset for your own sanity? Write it down.
Themes and Experiments
If big goals or resolutions bother you, consider a theme or trying experiments for the year.
Shy's themes the last 2 years have been "Ma: the idea of empty / negative space" and "Explore". They were things that really impacted her life. Ma to her that year meant not buying things just because they looked fun (and adding to the clutter in her house) and ensuring she had space to breathe and down time. Explore was to encourage Shy to try new things and follow her curiosity.
Give yourself permission to learn and try new things, to explore, to be curious. Consider turning something that looks challenging or a possible failure into an experiments, where you can learn about how you work best. It can really fuel your creativity and give you a better perspective! (
Look at what is working for you and what is not. What processes need tweaking or just need to be discarded or replaced?
More Ideas
Beginners' Corner
Take a look around at all of the planning things that you would like to do.
Prez likes bullet journaling, some people prefer planners, some use calendars. Shy likes a combo of paper and digital planning in Notion.
Digital vs Physical planners / systems.
There are so many options out there: Premade printed planners of various kinds, DIY / Bullet Journaling, digital planners and tracking sytems that are premade or DIY, etc.
Sharing corner: Share what you use/ do to plan to help out the newbies. And share your supplies!
Reminder: It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can improve it to fit you and your needs as they evolve.
— Prez of all Trades
During busy and chaotic times you may need a simple system and fewer goals, during less stressful times you may be able to handle a bigger load.
Helping Your Future Self
Make sure you have transferred all the important dates and what not into your new planner/ calendar for the year.
Touch base with your family to make sure that you are on the same page about schedules, plans for the future, vacations.
Restock on your supplies. New year means new planning supplies! (And often there are sales!)
Consider what is coming up in your life and see if you will need anything for those projects and plans.
Bonus
What things will help you if you track them or make checklists for them?
When cleaning tasks have been done
Vacations
Packing lists
Holidays
When your pets might need their shots/vet care
Information needed for pet sitters (vet info, routines, supplies you'll need for the pet sitter, favorite toys, etc.)
When you / your family need medical care
Movies / books you are looking forward to
When to spring clean
Do you need to post on social media? Make a content calendar
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